Rare Titanic First-Class Menu Fetches £83,000 at Auction

A rare menu from the first-class dining room of the Titanic fetched £83,000 ($102,000) at auction on Saturday, providing a glimpse into the lavish meals enjoyed by wealthy passengers before the ill-fated voyage.

Showing signs of heavy water damage and partial fading, the menu likely spent time submerged in the North Atlantic after the Titanic’s sinking in 1912, according to British auction house Henry Aldridge and Son Ltd.

Detailing the offerings of the ship’s inaugural dinner on April 11, the menu reveals a sumptuous array of dishes, including oysters, sirloin of beef with horseradish cream, and apricot Bordaloue for dessert. Its survival as a firsthand artifact of that evening is remarkable, as no other known examples of this specific menu have been found.

Among other items auctioned, a tartan blanket utilized by a survivor to keep warm in a lifeboat sold for £96,000 ($117,000), while a pocket watch owned by second-class passenger Sinai Kantor, who perished in the disaster, fetched £97,000 ($119,000), becoming the highest-priced item of the event.

The auction also featured a facing slip, a poignant reminder of the fate of the postal clerks who lost their lives attempting to save mail aboard the sinking ship.