Titanic Violin Fetches a Cool $1.45M at Auction

The violin, reportedly played on the deck of the Titanic while the doomed ocean liner sank more than a century ago, has today sold at auction in England for $1.45 Million USD – more than twice the amount anticipated

The battered, unplayable maple and spruce instrument, is believed to have belonged to 33 year old bandleader Wallace Henry Hartley – and has set a new world record for the highest price paid for a single item of Titanic memorabilia

The auction house spent seven years and tens of thousands of dollars investigating the violin’s authenticity

“In my 20 years as an auctioneer, I can honestly say I don’t think any article has made people show as much emotion as this one,” Andrew Aldridge from Henry Aldridge & Sons Auction house has said