Tag Archives: Titanic artifact auction

Sunday Titanic News: Titanic Victim Watch Sold and Titanic Artifacts Auction

1.Pocket Watch From Titanic Victim Sold For $57,500 (Smithsonian,29 Aug 2018)
On April 15, 1912, Sinai Kantor was among the more than 1,500 people who lost their lives when the Titanic plunged into the North Atlantic. Recovery workers later pulled his body from the ocean and found a number of items that had been on his person when he died. One of those items, a pocket watch marked with Hebrew letters, recently sold at auction for $57,500, reports the Associated Press. John Miottel, owner of the private Miottel Museum in California, purchased the watch at auction. He already owns a number of timepieces that belonged to Titanic victims, including John Jacob Astor IV, the financier who helped build the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, and Oscar Woody, the Titanic’s U.S. Postal Clerk.

PR Newswire

2. Bankrupt Titanic Exhibitor Sets Biggest Sale of Ship Relics (Bloomberg, 30 Aug 2018)
This story, as predicted, is getting more heated now. To sum up: the current owner is bankrupt and wants to sell its most prized possession of all-the historic Titanic artifact collection. In the past getting anyone to put up the money was so difficult–due to constrictions imposed on the salvage award–that no one could afford purchasing it as one set. The article indicates three possible bidders:

1. Daoping Bao, has proposed a plan backed by a bevy of investment funds and Chinese businessmen who have bought $2 million of the company’s debt. Among Bao’s backers are Hong Kong-based PacBridge Capital Partners Ltd. and U.S.-based Apollo Global Management. Bao’s group is pledging to keep the collection intact and within reach of U.S. courts while planning to ramp up scientific and tourist expeditions to the wreck. Bao’s group raised their bid to $19.5 million

2. Titanic Branson
The owners of Titanic Branson and Titanic Pigeon Forge would like to purchase it and have made an offer in the past of $5-10 million that was turned down.

3. James Cameron & Museums: Cameron and a group of museums are offering $19.2 million.

As I suspected earlier, the Chinese are putting up a lot of money so they can move this to their theme park in China where a Titanic replica will be built. Make no mistake on this one, serious money is being put on the table. The downside is that once they are out of the U.S., there is no guarantee they will abide by the salvage award requirements. They claim they will keep it in U.S. but most are not sure they will do this. The bids from the Pigeon Forge and Cameron group is serious as well and both would likely keep the collection together.

And it is still possible that the bankruptcy court could conclude the easiest path is to auction off the pieces and pay off the debt rather than deal with the bids. The Bao group has put down a cash deposit to show they are serious. It is also possible that the government could step in to prevent its sale to Bao. That would leave the other two players. Certainly the Cameron group has museums behind him that know a lot about conserving artifacts. As for Pigeon Forge, they could end up getting it if the court is uncertain of the other two bids and wants to keep it right here in the U.S.


Titanic Salvage Sale Appears Either Dead Or Looking For New Buyer

On 28 May, Premier Exhibitions put out its Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2013 Results. For Sale by Owner SignDeep down in the statement was the following:

Update on Titanic Monetization

As previously communicated, on October 15, 2012, the Company entered into a non-binding letter of intent with an entity representing a group of individuals (the “Consortium”) working to effect a purchase of the stock of RMS Titanic, Inc. Since entering into the LOI, Premier has been negotiating exclusively with this group. The entity with whom the Company is negotiating has been soliciting federal, state, and local government entities, as well as philanthropic contributions, to build support to go public with a broader campaign to secure capital necessary to complete a transaction. They continue to request confidentiality until they feel comfortable that there is sufficient support to go public with the project.

Due to the complexity of the transaction and the many elements that are necessary for consummation, the process has taken longer that Premier had hoped. While the Company continues discussions with this group, Premier also recognizes the uncertainty of their completing a transaction and obtaining funding commitments. The Board is therefore considering the full range of strategic and financial alternatives in this regard, which likely will include retaining an investment bank, and will pursue possible paths in parallel.

The complexity of these assets, and the need to comply with the underlying court orders, require that any transaction or arrangement be more carefully structured and executed than a typical transaction. Timing is certainly a factor, but it is not the only factor. The Board and management, together, remain committed to maximizing shareholder value.

This confirms some speculation about who this consortium might be, a group of investors trying to raise capital both with taxpayer money (that is where government money comes from) and private investors (rich people with lots of money like that guy with the hoodie who heads up a social network). You can guess the problem with raising this capital. Not only is the price astronomical, it comes with a major constraint: it stays under U.S. federal court jurisdiction because you are not allowed to sell off any portion of the collection. That means the court will be over your shoulder all the time wanting reports and details of the collection from what is being stored, how it is being carefully preserved, and when it is on display.

So the upshot of it is this: Premiere is formally notifying that they are looking for other interested parties. This may be the reason, according to Seeking Alpha that Premiere’s stock price has dropped. It dropped from $2.30 to $2.10 ion 28 May and dropped much further since. Premiere might consider appealing the judge’s decision to a higher court. And it is entirely possible down the road one of two things happening: the entire collection being shuttered until resolved or the U.S. government seizing it as a national/international treasure under some obscure international treaty or possibly use a congressional resolution passed years ago as the pretext.

Sources:

1. Failed Titanic Sale Won’t Sink Premier Exhibitions(18 June 2013,Seeking Alpha)

2. Premier Exhibitions Reports Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2013 Results (28 May 2013, Global Newswire-Press Release)