Historic Violin

Source: Museums Victoria en Unsplash

Source: You Tube (JonRichie94) Key words: Titanic nearer my god to thee

Titanic Violin May Fetch World Record Price

Wallace Hartley's violin has become part of the doomed ship's legend after his band played as the vessel went down.

The violin famously played by the Titanic's bandmaster as the liner sank beneath the waves is expected to fetch a world record price when it goes under the hammer today.

Wallace Hartley has become part of the doomed ship's legend after leading his fellow musicians in playing as the vessel went down, most famously the hymn Nearer My God To Thee.

Hartley and his seven fellow band members all died in the tragedy on April 14 1912, when the cruiser hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank, killing 1,500 people.

His violin, which had been a gift from his fiancee Maria Robinson, was apparently found in a case strapped to his body when it was recovered from the icy waters.

Its re-emergence in 2006, when it was reportedly discovered in an attic in Yorkshire, prompted heated debate over its authenticity.

Titanic specialist auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son say nearly seven years of research and tests have proved it to be the genuine article.

Now the violin - accompanied by a leather luggage case initialed WHH - is being put up for sale along with a host of items from the ship at an auction in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Andrew Aldridge, a valuer with the auctioneer, said worldwide interest in the instrument meant it was likely to break the world record fee for a single piece of memorabilia from the Titanic.

The violin has a reserve price of between £200,000 and £300,000, but is expected to fetch as much as £400,000.

Mr Aldridge said: "It symbolises love, with a young man strapping it to his body because it was an engagement present from his fiancee. It also epitomises bravery. He knew there would be no lifeboats.

"It symbolises everything that's good about people, not just Wallace Hartley and his band, but all the men, women and children who lost their lives."

The previous record sale saw a 32ft plan of the Titanic used in the 1912 inquiry into the sinking of the ship fetch £220,000 two years ago.

The violin has been on exhibition at Titanic museums in the US and Northern Ireland.

Mr Aldridge also took the violin to Mr Hartley's hometown of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, this week ahead of its sale.

"I hope it stays in the UK and goes on exhibition," he said. "There have buyers in the UK but also in the US and Asia so it could go anywhere."

Among the other items on sale is a photograph showing victims being buried at sea.

The black and white image of bodies in sacks piled three high on deck is expected to fetch up to £5,000.

Source: Sky News 

In the end the violin fetched £900,000.

Why do you think that, over 100 years later, people are still fascinated by the story of the Titanic?

The question has followed James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for the past 25 years: could Jack have squeezed on that wooden door with Rose? And what if she had given him her life jacket? The director of 'Titanic' finally settles the debate https://t.co/SDEtrOLWvE

— El País English Edition (@elpaisinenglish) February 14, 2023

#OnThisDay 1912: The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

In 1979, Frank Prentice described how he managed to escape death on the liner, where he was working as an assistant purser. pic.twitter.com/XOWvXPBGVo

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) April 15, 2022

🚢This week in 1912 the Titanic sank.
Though the ship sank, there were survivors.
📖 Practice your reading and listening skills here with this lesson based on their dramatic accounts of what happened.https://t.co/AEw20snVWX pic.twitter.com/0C6KQZzqkm

— BBC Learning English (@bbcle) April 21, 2018