Nantucket Titanic Deck Chair Photo: Henry Aldridge & Son
A rare Titanic deck chair was recently auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Son for the princely sum of £100,000, The chair was one of six or seven that were found in the Atlantic by ships sent out to retrieve bodies from Titanic. This particular one originally belonged to Captain Julien Lemarteleur. Due to its fragility, the anonymous seller kept it as a display piece in a large window with a sea view.
The name of the buyer was not released but was from the U.K.
Correction: In both this post and a previous one, I referenced the Simpson letter. However while RR Auction lists this as part of the December auction, the letter was bought earlier this year by Titanic Foundation and brought to Belfast for exhibition. In fact, it was exhibited during the summer. In short, I got it wrong. I kick myself for not checking my own news archive about this.
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At the recent RR Auction the top bid for Titanic iceberg photo was $21,000. Not all items were sold and a third auction is being considered next April. So far, there is no report that the Simpson letter was sold.
The New Jersey Sports Authority, like many government agencies these days, is bleeding red. And they need lots of money to keep from going broke. Of course that means taxpayers get to foot the bill despite a $1.3 million cut in the payroll. To that the Star Ledger notes in its editorial:
The NJSEA says it has cut $1.3 million from its payroll, but that’s like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic.
Of course if you do have a real deck chair from Titanic (presumably retrieved as debris in 1912), that would be worth serious money. Probably not enough though to solve the budget problems NJSEA faces.
