Berliner Tageblatt - Pocket watch found on Titanic victim to go on sale in UK

The gilt silver and brass watch was found among the possessions of Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard, who was among the 1,500 people who died when the vessel sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912.

His body was recovered from the North Atlantic and buried in Halifax, Canada, on 10 May 1912.

Givard's pockets contained a savings book, keys, cash in a wallet, a compass, a passport and the gilded pocket watch, which it is estimated will fetch around £50,000 ($66,000) at the April 26 auction.

The belongings were returned to his family and his descendants are now selling the watch.

Givard, 27, was travelling to the United States with two of his friends who also died in the disaster.

"The watch's 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, Titanic, on April 15, 1912," said Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers.

Other items on sale include a letter and medal belonging to first-class Swedish passenger Erik Gustaf Lind and a silver dollar certificate and rare third-class ticket used by Ernest Portage Tomlin.

Both men died in the disaster.

The violin played by the bandleader in the 1997 Hollywood film depicting the sinking is also on sale, and is expected to fetch up to £60,000.

J.Fankhauser--BTB