bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

A ladies’ pocket watch found among the belongings of one of the passengers who drowned during the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic could sell for up to £50,000 (US$66,000) at auction.
Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard, 27, was among the 1,500 people who died when the vessel struck an iceberg in 1912.
Givard was travelling to the United States with two of his friends who also died in the disaster.
The watch was found when Givard’s body was recovered from the North Atlantic and he was later buried in Halifax, Canada.
In his pockets were a savings book, keys, some cash in a wallet, a silver watch, a compass and a passport.

Also recovered was the gilded ladies’ pocket watch, which bears traces of saltwater corrosion.
All his belongings were returned to his brother in Denmark, and it is his descendants who are selling the watch.
The ill-fated story of Givard directly inspired curator Jesper Hjermind and his niece, journalist and US resident Mette Hjermind McCall, to write the book Titanic – De Danske Fortællinger (Titanic – The Danish Stories), where the pocket watch is mentioned.
It was also exhibited by Claes Goran Wetterholm, the leading authority globally on the Scandinavian element of the Titanic story in Copenhagen in 2012.
The watch is going under the hammer at Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 26.
“This piece is documented in the official list of Hans’s effects compiled by the authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the weeks after the Titanic disaster and has remained in his family ever since,” said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge.
“It was one of the centre pieces of the display of Titanic memorabilia in the Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2012 which illustrates its importance,” he added.
“The watches movement is frozen in time at the moment the cold North Atlantic waters consumed not only its owner but the most famous ocean liner of all time.”


How a fiery conquest in 112BC may have led to decline of the Chinese swamp cypress

How a 1993 MTR train incident sparked an expensive re-engineering

Napoleon’s sword to be sold at auction in Paris

China showcases its neighbourhood diplomacy across Southeast Asia

History

Titanic passenger’s pocket watch tipped for US$66,000 sale

The Titanic leaves Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, for her ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic. Photo: Southampton City Council/AFP

The gilded ladies’ pocket watch, which bears traces of saltwater corrosion, was found on Titanic passenger Hans Christensen Givard’s body. Photo: Henry Aldridge and Son

Siobhan Haughey’s Olympic swimsuit sells at auction for more than Phelps’ Speedos

Siobhan Haughey celebrates winning her first Olympic medal, silver in the 200m freestyle in Tokyo in 2021. Photo: TASS via Getty Images

Siobhan Haughey collects her second medal in Tokyo, the silver in the 100m freestyle. Photo: Reuters

In Titanic exhibition in Hong Kong, collector shares memorabilia from the marine tragedy

Vinolia soap used on the Titanic. Photo: iLab Science Museum

A Titanic exhibition in Hong Kong is exhibiting artefacts from the tragedy, including newspaper clippings (above) reporting the sinking in 1912. Photo: iLab Science Museum

The “unsinkable” RMS Titanic. Photo: Getty Images

Vinolia soap like that used on the Titanic. Photo: iLab Science Museum

Hongkonger Ingrid Wong is showing her collection of Titanic artefacts at the “Titanic Relics Exhibition” at the iLab Science Museum, in Causeway Bay, until April 30. Photo: iLab Science Museum

Six Chinese passengers survived the sinking of the Titanic – more than 100 years later their stories reach China

New documentary The Six tells the previously untold stories of six Chinese survivors of the Titanic disaster, including (from left) Ling Hee, Fang Lang, Lee Bing and Ah Lam. Photo: Handout

Researcher Steven Schwankert visits the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the final resting place for more than 100 victims of the Titanic, in Halifax, Canada. Photo: Handout

News

World

Europe

Recovered from the icy North Atlantic after the 1912 disaster, the ladies’ timepiece is going under the hammer in the UK


Recovered from the icy North Atlantic after the 1912 disaster, the ladies’ timepiece is going under the hammer in the UK.


Denmark

Britain

Canada

Auctions