"Titanic" artifacts to be auctioned in New York

NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) Four bronze plates from the lifeboats that carried Titanic survivors are expected to command some of the highest auction prices ever associated with the 1912 maritime disaster, Christie's said.

Two lots -- one a plate reading ''S S Titanic'' and a White Star lines house flag rendered in bronze and the other a plate also reading ''S S Titanic'' and one saying ''Liverpool,'' where the ship was built -- are expected to command 40,000 dollars to 70,000 dollars each at next week's sale, the auction house said.

''It's certainly a possibility that they could go well over 100,000 dollars,'' said Gregg Dietrich, Christie's maritime specialist in charge of the sale.

The items are the highlights of a June 1 sale of 350 lots of ocean-liner furnishings and art, from three major collections as well as the Steamship Historical Society.

Models of other ill-fated ships including the RMS Lusitania, S S Andrea Doria, S S United States, S S Normandie and S S France, are also featured.

The Titanic offerings also include a detailed deck plan given to first class passengers (auction estimate 15,000 dollars to 20,000 dollars) and a medal commissioned by famed survivor Molly Brown and presented to crew members of the rescue ship Carpathia.

Also being sold are facing slips stamped ''Titanic'' that were used to bundle mail. They were recovered from a postal clerk's body.

The four brass plates, among only six known still to exist, are being sold from a New York family's collection.

One of the highest prices fetched by Titanic memorabilia was the 88,500 dollars paid for a menu from the ship.

Earlier this month a deck chair failed to sell when bidding topped out at 62,000 dollars, below a prearranged minimum. But a miniature locket portrait, handed from a survivor to a friend as she boarded a lifeboat and later retrieved from his body, fetched more than 100,000 dollars at an auction in April.

Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York. More than 1,520 passengers and crew died, including some leading celebrities, leaving only about 700 survivors. ''Titanic,'' the 1997 movie about the disaster, was the biggest box-office film ever, earning 1.8 billion dollars worldwide.

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