Titanic Survivor's Signed Life Jacket Sells for $900K

UPDATE Apr 18, 2026 1:55 PM CDT

A life jacket that helped save a Titanic passenger sold at auction in England on Saturday for $906,000, far exceeding the presale estimate. A seat cushion from one of the ship's lifeboats brought $527,000, the AP reports, from the owners of Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri. The prices include an auction house fee. "These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said, "and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalized by these items of memorabilia."

Apr 15, 2026 6:00 PM CDT

A relic of one of history's most infamous shipwrecks is about to hit the auction block with a six-figure estimate, reports Fox News. A life jacket worn by Titanic survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli is expected to sell for between $339,000 and $475,000 when it goes under the hammer on Saturday in England, according to Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers. Francatelli, a 22-year-old secretary to fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, wore the canvas-and-cork vest as she boarded Lifeboat No. 1, which was launched with just 12 people despite room for roughly 40 after the Titanic struck an iceberg late on April 14, 1912.

The jacket, later signed by Francatelli and seven other occupants of the lifeboat, carries some controversy, as those aboard the lifeboat opted not to return to the foundering ship to try to save at least some of those who perished, notes the Belfast Telegraph. It stayed in her family for decades before being sold to a private collector about 20 years ago. Believed to be one of only a few survivor-worn Titanic life jackets still around—and the only one ever offered at auction—it has been displayed in museums in the US and Europe.