The life jacket was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the Titanic, according to major media reports. It sold to an unidentified telephone bidder for well over the presale estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds, as reported by major media. The auction was conducted by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, western England, major media said.
At the same event, a seat cushion from one of the Titanic lifeboats sold for 390,000 pounds ($527,000) to the owners of two Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri, according to major media. The prices include an auction-house fee known as the buyer's premium. Laura Mabel Francatelli was traveling with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon, and Lucy's husband Cosmo Duff Gordon, major media reported.
All three survived in the ship's lifeboat No. 1, which was launched carrying 12 people despite having capacity for 40, according to major media. Lifeboat No.
1's failure to pick up survivors from the frigid water became a source of controversy. 56 million pounds (almost $2 million at the time) paid in 2024 for a gold pocket watch given to the captain of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued 700 Titanic survivors, major media said. The Titanic hit an iceberg off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York and sank within hours on April 15, 1912, according to major media.
Some 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew died in the Titanic sinking, major media reported. The Titanic is still a subject of worldwide fascination, in part because of the range of passengers aboard the ship, from paupers to plutocrats, major media said.