A first class menu from Titanic's last lunch has sold for $88,000.
The lunch menu, bearing the fateful date of April 14, 1912, surpassed its $70,000 high-end estimate at Lion Heart Autographs' New York sale yesterday.
 One of only three examples known to have survived |
The menu, which offered corned ox tongue, soused herrings and galantine of chicken, belonged to American first class passenger Abraham Lincoln Salomon (1868-1959), who survived the sinking of the ship and carried the menu home.
Salomon was one of the five passengers who escaped on board the infamous Lifeboat 1. It was nicknamed the Money Boat, due to the claim the wealthy passengers paid seven crew members to quickly row away from the listing ship and not pick up other survivors.
That tale, the menu's poignancy as Titanic's last meal, and its extreme rarity ensured a strong price.
"Only three other Titanic lunch menus from this date are known," explained the auctioneer.
"One was donated to the Greenwich National Maritime Museum by Walter Lord, author of A Night to Remember, and another sold for ?�76,000 (approximately $120,000) in 2012�Ǫ
"[This is] an extremely rare artifact made even more remarkable with such traceable provenance and association."
The lot is just the latest in a string of impressive results for Titanic artefacts in recent years - evidence of the lasting fascination collectors have with the tragedy.
The auction record stands at $1.7m - achieved by the violin played by Wallace Harley, the leader of the band that famously played on as the ship sank.
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