The richest passenger on the Titanic was Jacob Astor IV, a member of the American billionaire Astor family. He wore a gold watch. The watch he used sold for a record price at auction in the UK.

Last Saturday (April 27) the watch was auctioned in England by a company named Henry Aldridge & Son. It was sold there for 1170 thousand pounds (1460 thousand US dollars). Its amount in Bangladeshi currency is about 16 crore taka.

An American buyer bought the watch at auction for a huge sum. The auctioneer said it was a record sale price for an item related to the Titanic tragedy.

When the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in April 1912, John Jacob Astor lost his life along with many passengers. But his wife Madeleine survived the ship.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, manager of the auction house, said the auction for the watch began at noon local time on Saturday. Henry Aldridge & Son estimated that the gold watch would fetch between one and a half million pounds at auction. But exceeding their expectations, this historical object was sold at a price 10 times higher.

Jacob Astor’s body was recovered after the sinking of the Titanic. At that time, apart from watches, gold buttons, diamond rings, money and small pocket books were recovered from there. These were later inherited by Astor’s son Vincent. He fixes the clock so that it runs properly. In 1935, Vincent gave the watch as a christening gift to the son of John Jacob Astor’s executive secretary William Dobbin IV. The watch remained in the Astor family until the 1990s. It was later auctioned and bought by an anonymous person. Later it was exhibited in various museums. He auctioned the watch as its current owner.

Aldridge said the watch has been seen by millions of people over time, which is truly remarkable. Saturday’s auction also featured Jacob Astor’s gold buttons and pocket book.