Amount paid for businessman John Jacob Astor’s watch is highest ever for Titanic memorabilia, auctioneers say

A gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the Titanic has sold for six times the asking price, fetching £900,000. The watch belonged to businessman John Jacob Astor Get info without leaving the page. and was estimated to sell for £150,000 when it went under the hammer in Wiltshire.

John Jacob Astor was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a fellow passenger as the Titanic went down. His body was recovered from the Atlantic a week later - along with the pocket watch.

Its auction price for the watch worn by the richest man aboard the Titanic, is the highest amount ever paid for a single item from the doomed liner.

The timepiece belonged to John Jacob Astor IV, a US business magnate who was among more than 1,500 people who died when the ship struck an iceberg in the early hours of April 15, 1912.

The watch, owned by the richest man on the Titanic – businessman John Jacob Astor, went down with the ship in 1912 and is engraved with his initials