JOHN CONDIE explains why personal items from Titanic attract so much interest

When RMS Titanic slipped her moorings in Southampton docks at the stroke of noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, to set sail on the maiden voyage that would end so tragically, no one could possibly have imagined 90 years later interest in the ship would still be so intense.

Today, anything connected with Titanic is highly collectable and when any new item comes up for sale at auction, collectors from both sides of the Atlantic battle to own it.

There are so many stories connected with the ship, the voyage and the rescue and many items have been recovered from the ship itself but it is often the very personal mementos that generate the most interest.

In 1999, Christie's of London, sold a letter which had been written on board on 10 April. It was penned by Edward Pommeroy Colley and began, "Dear Edie". It went on to describe life on board and detailed names of some of the famous passengers. He also mentioned that "...they have a restaurant where you can pay for the meals if you get bored with the ordinary grub."

Mr Colley was not one of the survivors.

The letter sold for £6,000.

Menus from the ship are some of the most sought after items. In 1999, Christie's sold a First Class passenger menu from Titanic's 'Caf Parisien', dated 14th April, the night of the disaster. This menu had been taken off the ship by a passenger called Adolphe Saalfeld from Manchester. Only two other examples of First Class menus from the night of the disaster are known to exist and neither are from the Caf Parisien. Not surprisingly this menu sold for £17,000.

At the other end of the scale a rare crew menu which was undated sold for £9,000 which shows that even in the world of collecting, the difference in status can still count!

News of the disaster began to be received on both sides of the Atlantic on 15 April but initial reports were confused. The Daily Mirror printed an issue dated Tuesday, April 16, 1912 but this early edition failed to realise the gravity of the disaster. It featured a full page picture of the vessel leaving Southampton and goes on to report that "after her passengers had been saved (she) sank."

Later issues and other newspapers soon realised that there had, in fact, been a great loss of life but these newspapers are not worth as much as the Daily Mirror edition which has sold for as much as £500 in the past.

When buying any Titanic memorabilia, as with any ephemera, it is very important that the provenance of each item can be proved. Copies of the Daily Mirror have been reproduced and it is possible that other items have been too.

However, new mementos are being discovered all the time and it is likely, especially in Southampton, that there could be memorabilia from Titanic and the White Star Line lying at the back of drawers or in boxes in the attic.