The gold watch that belonged to the richest passenger on the Titanic was sold at auction on Saturday for 1.175 million pounds (1.37 million euros), according to the British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son. Engraved with the initials JJA, it belonged to the American businessman John Jacob Astor, who died at the age of 47 in the sinking of the Titanic, in the early hours of April 15, 1912.
The sum was paid by an American buyer and exceeded the estimate of £100,000 – £150,000 (€116,000 – €175,000) published before the sale.
Considered one of the richest men in the world at the time, John Jacob Astor had a fortune of 87 million dollars, which today would represent several billion dollars. He sank the ship after seeing his wife, Madeleine, boarded a lifeboat.
The aristocrat was depicted in his last moments smoking a cigarette in the company of another passenger, the American writer Jacques Futrelle, both of whom were among the 1,500 dead on the Titanic.
Luiza Toboc has been working in mass media since 2003, both print and TV. He was a news editor/presenter at Prima TV Câmpina, followed by collaboration with VP TV and Travel MIX Channel, where he was a producer of shows, covering almost all spheres of interest (health, administration, politics, education, but also social). On travel television, the Travel Mix Channel produced travel diaries in the country. This was followed by collaboration with Republikanews, where he was also a producer of shows, being also involved in the project carried out in collaboration with the regional television MDI TV, from Târgoviște. From April 2021, she is part of the Prahovean Observatory team, being involved, among other things, in numerous humanitarian campaigns, widely presented in the county’s most read daily newspaper.
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