The violin thought to have been played by the Titanic’s bandmaster
as the ship sank into the north Atlantic has been sold at auction for £900,000.
The instrument, which is cracked, water stained and only has two strings,
is said to have belonged to Wallace Hartley, whose band continued to play
– most famously, the hymn “Nearer, My God, To Thee” – as the ship filled with water.
It was thought the violin had been lost to the sea when Hartley
and the rest of his band drowned along with 1,500 others on April 15, 1912.
But in 2006 an unnamed man found the instrument in a leather
suitcase in the attic of his mother’s home.
Some experts doubted its authenticity, saying it could not have survived
after being submerged in sea water.
But historians, scientists and forensic experts, along with specialist
Titanic auctioneers, Henry Aldridge and Son, and Hartley’s biographer,
spent seven years examining it and researching the story behind it before
declaring they were able to prove its authenticity “beyond reasonable doubt”.
They said Hartley had strapped it to his chest in a leather bag and it had
been returned to his fiance, Maria Robinson, before being passed on to The Salvation Army.
From there it was given to a violin teacher, who in turn gave it to the seller’s
mother, herself an amateur musician.
It was bought by an British collector of Titanic memorabilia at the sale in Devizes,
Wiltshire on Saturday. When the buyer’s premium is added, the total paid was £1.1 million.
The previous record for a single piece of memorabilia from the Titanic was £220,000,
which was paid in 2011 for a 32ft plan of the Titanic used in the inquiry into the sinking of the ship.
However the story of Hartley’s band is one of the most enduring of the disaster.
Within minutes of the ship striking an iceberg, Hartley was instructed to assemble
his musicians to play to maintain calm.
They performed on the boat deck while the passengers lined up for the lifeboats.
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