Old is Gold: 'Titanic' gold ring sold for record price

LONDON: Old is gold; and when the 'old' is a precious gold ring belonging to a survivor of the ill-fated Titanic ship that sank in 1912, its value becomes big.

A report published in the World Gold Council web site says a gold ring kept in a shoe box by a Titanic survivor has been sold at auction for 3000 Euro.

The item was among an array of memorabilia from the fated ship auctioned at the weekend for a collective value of Euro 100,000, the web site quoted BBC as saying.

Lillian Asplund's treasures included a pocket watch that stopped at the exact moment the ship sank and sold for Euro 31,000.

Meanwhile, the gold ring was the wedding band that belonged to Miss Asplund's father, Carl, who was in a photo with his wife that sold for Euro 5,000.

Andrew Aldridge, who runs Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire with his father Alan, told the publication: "There were bidders from China, America, Sweden, Ireland and the UK calling in and the room itself was so packed we had to fetch more chairs."

On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York. At that time, she was the largest and most luxurious ship ever built. At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, she struck an iceberg about 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada. Although her crew had been warned about icebergs several times that evening by other ships navigating through that region, she was traveling at near top speed of about 20.5 knots when one grazed her side.

Less than three hours later, the Titanic plunged to the bottom of the sea, taking more than 1500 people with her. Only a fraction of her passengers were saved. The world was stunned to learn of the fate of the unsinkable Titanic. It carried some of the richest, most powerful industrialists of her day.

Together, their personal fortunes were worth $600 million in 1912! In addition to wealthy and the middle class passengers, she carried poor emigrants from Europe and the Middle East seeking economic and social freedom in the New World.