A mailbag from the Titanic belonging to last living survivor Millvina Dean sold for £2,000 in Devizes on Saturday – before the winning bidder handed it straight back to her.
London-based advertising agency director Trevor Beattie bid nearly £2,000 for the bag and then gave it back to 97-year-old Miss Dean, who sold the bag and other items at Aldridge’s sale of Titanic memorabilia to pay for her care at a residential home in Southampton.
The last survivor of the Titanic disaster, she was a babe in arms when she and her mother left the stricken liner in the early hours of April 15 1912.
It is believed she was lifted from the lifeboat to the SS Carpathia in a mailbag. Auctioneer Alan Aldridge was careful not to claim the item was that very bag, but the possibility that it was remains. Mr Beattie bid £1,500 for the bag, which, with buyer’s premium and VAT brought it close to £2,000, and then arranged for it to go to Miss Dean, who was unable to be at the sale because of ill-health.
A pass key recovered from the body of first class steward Edmund Stone sold for £50,000.
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