Washington, Jan 6 (ANI): More than 5,000 artifacts plucked from the debris of the passenger liner RMS Titanic that have been appraised at 189 million dollars will be sold at an auction in one chunk.
According to Arlan Ettinger, the auctioneer of Guernsey's Auction House in Manhattan, if somebody has their eye only the delicate diamond bracelet, or the 17-ton slab of hull from the doomed ship, they're out of luck.
The auction will be held 11th April to coincide with the Titanic's maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.
As myriad films, books, pop songs and deep-sea expeditions have told narrated, the supposedly unsinkable liner was no match for a giant iceberg, and 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board died when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea on 15th April, 1912, hours after hitting the frozen mass.
Its wreckage lay in some 12,000 feet of water, undisturbed, until its discovery in 1985.
The wreck remains in place, but expeditions over the years have retrieved and preserved items found in a 13-mile debris field surrounding it, and they were on display Thursday.
The items include earrings, spectacles, a perfectly preserved blue-and-white dish, and a man's vest with buttons still attached.
"It's one of the most significant and extraordinary collections ... on the face of the Earth," LA Times quoted Ettinger as saying.
What makes this sale more challenging is that a court will have to approve the winning bidder, to ensure the new owners have the ability and commitment to preserving the collection and to keeping at least a portion of it on public display at any given time.
"It's like getting a puppy," he added.
Ettinger also said that he already has received calls from some "serious-sounding parties". (ANI)
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