News from Spink

Jefferson and Edison signatures, Two Titanic Letters in Public Auction.

Two letters from first class passengers onboard the Titanic will be offered for a sale at a public auction in New York City and online, January 16, 2009.  Both are written on White Star Lines stationery imprinted with the words, “On board R.M.S. Titanic,” and one may be the very first letter written on the ship by an early-boarding male passenger.

 “Letters from passengers aboard Titanic are extremely rare, and are among the most prized artifacts from the disaster,” said Robert Litzenberger, Autograph Specialist of Spink Smythe (www.SpinkSmythe.com), the Dallas, New York and London-based auction house conducting the sale.  “The letters are expected to sell for $10,000 to $20,000 each.”

On her maiden voyage the Titanic struck a North Atlantic iceberg and sank within hours early on the morning of April 14, 1912.

The letters in the auction were placed in the mail from Southhampton, England just prior to the ship’s departure on April 10 for its never-completed trans-Atlantic crossing to New York City.

In a letter dated April 10, 1912, Adolphe Saalfeld, chairman of a pharmacy company in England, wrote to his wife: “Dear Wifey, Thanks for your letter.  I just had an hours roaming abt. on this wonderful boat together with Paul.  I like my cabin very much.  It is like a bed-sitting room & rather large.  I am the first man to write a letter on board, they are still busy to finish the last touches onboard.  Au revoir in Whitweek please God!  Love to you all! And a Kiss for you!”

“Saalfeld survived in lifeboat number three, which was filled with women and children.  He died in England in 1926.  He was traveling on the Titanic with European perfume samples he wanted to bring to New York, and some of those bottles were recovered from underwater wreckage in 2000,” said Litzenberger.

The second letter in the Spink Smythe auction also is dated April 10, 1912 and was written by passenger George Graham of Harriston, Canada, a sales manager for the Eaton’s department store company, to a business colleague in Berlin, Germany. 

He wrote: “I am sorry that I neglected to send you a wire on the first of April but I for got all about it until Tuesday, you see.  I arrived in London Late Sunday and I was very busy all day Monday and I forgot all about it however.  I hope that you will accept my good wishes now even if they are a bit late.   I hope to see you next year and that you and your good wife will enjoy good health.” 

Graham did not survive the sinking.

“Hours before the ship struck an iceberg, Graham wired his wife back in Canada saying he was well and indicating he would be in New York City on Wednesday.  She received the wire on Tuesday morning, when news of the disaster was on everyone’s lips, and mistakenly took it to mean her husband survived,” explained Litzenberger.

“Days later she was informed his body had been recovered from the North Atlantic.”

            The Spink Smythe “Collector’s Series Sale” on January 15 - 17, 2009 also includes a rare, autographed photo of prolific inventor, Thomas A. Edison, and a January 8, 1801-dated, handwritten, lengthy letter by then President-elect Thomas Jefferson about arrangements for hiring slaves from other plantations to assist in completing projects at his Virginia estate, Monticello.

            There is also a document signed three separate times by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1927. It is a promissory note for money he loaned the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation to help children with polio.  He first signed it when issuing the note, then again for the payment of the money loaned, and a third time two months later to acknowledge the loan was repaid.

About Spink

Spink is the world’s leading auctioneer of coins, stamps, medals and banknotes with offices in London, Singapore, New York and Dallas.  Since its foundation in 1666, the Spink name has become synonymous with tradition, experience and integrity. Holders of three royal warrants and numerous records for prices achieved at auction, Spink offer an unparalleled range of services to collectors worldwide.

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