Titanic letter recovered from First Class passenger's body sells for world record price

A unique letter written on board the Titanic and recovered from the victims body has sold for £126,000 at auction.

The handwritten letter on oversized, embossed Titanic stationery was written by First Class victim Alexander Oskar Holverson to his mother on April 13th 1912.

The letter was penned just a day before the ship struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "Holversons intent would have been to post the letter in New York.

It represents one of the last known letters to have survived the sinking and the last known letter written on board by a victim.

Since it was recovered from Holversons body he obviously had still hoped to be able to send it on to his mother from New York.

As she received it after the ship foundered this may be the only on-board letter written by a victim and delivered to its recipient without postage to date."

He added:  "I'm delighted with the new world record for the Titanic letter.

"It reflects its status as the most important Titanic letter that we have ever auctioned."

Letter written by Alexander Oskar Holverson on board the Titanic

The unsigned letter was written on three sides of paper, with a fourth left blank. It bears a White Star Line five pointed star logo watermark and each acid-rich page measures seven inches by nine inches.

The ink has not run and there are some colourful stains on the last page which was most exposed to the salt water sea.

The American businessman wrote his letter well into the voyage and describes the on board food, music and fellow first class passengers.

The successful salesman wrote:This boat is giant in size and fitted up like a palacial hotel.

Mr and Mrs John Jacob Astor is on this ship. He looks like any other human being even tho he has millions of money. They sit out on deck like the rest of us.

And ominously he penned "if all goes well we will arrive in New York Wednesday AM".

His wife, Mary, survived. The letter was found in a pocket book when Holverson's body was recovered. 

The letter, which came from the victims family, was sold during a Titanic auction at Henry Aldridge and Sons auction house in Devizes, Wiltshire.

The guide price had been between £60,000 and £80,000. 

In April 2014, the last letter to be written on the doomed ship sold for £119,000. It was written by survivor Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter Eva eight hours before the boat sank. 

Also sold at yesterday's auction was a set of Titanic locker keys that belonged to cabin steward Sidney Daniels the last surviving member of the Titanics crew.

The corroded iron keys are exceptional as they are the only known examples belonging to concurrent lockers each has a matching brass tag stamped locker 41F Deck and 42F Deck on a single ring.

Daniels helped women and children into lifeboats before he jumped into the sea from the sinking liner.

He was rescued from an upturned boat by Carpathia. He served in the First World War and died in 1983 aged 89.

The keys had a guide price of £50,000 to £60,000 at the same sale. They sold for £63,000 to a bidder in the room.