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Titanic memorabilia fetch £300,000
A bag belonging to the last living Titanic survivor and flask that once contained hot milk for lifeboat passengers were among memorabilia from the disaster which have fetched about £300,000 at auction.
Millvina Dean, 97, of Southampton, who was lowered from the deck of the sinking ship as a baby in 1912, put her treasured items up for sale to help pay her nursing home fees.
A canvas mailbag stencilled I.S. New York, used to carry the family's belongings back from New York afterwards, and a collection of her Titanic-related photographs, together raised 5,000. Even though the photographs are recent – many simply of her at conventions – their value comes through her role as living history, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge explained.
"It is the association," said Mr Aldridge, who conducted the sale in Devizes, Wiltshire, at the weekend. "A Manchester United shirt might be worth 40, but if it's been worn by Christiano Ronaldo it could then be worth 4,000."
Miss Dean's father Bertram was among 1,517 victims of the disaster.
A large collection owned by Barbara Dainton-West, who was 10 months old when she survived, made 60,000. She died in 2007.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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