Titanic biscuit to auction for $15,500?

Is this Titanic biscuit set to become the world's most valuable?

The Spillers and Bakers pilot biscuit will auction at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in the UK on 24 October.

Titanic biscuit
The biscuit was in a lifeboat's survival kit

The 3½ inch x 4 inch item has a £10,000 ($15,367) estimate.

It is the sole surviving biscuit from the ship's lifeboats, and was part of a survival kit.

James Fenwick, a passenger on board the SS Carpathia, which rescued many survivors, kept the item. He placed it in a photographic envelope for safekeeping, coupled with a note that read "Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912."

"It is the world's most valuable biscuit," commented auctioneer Andrew Aldridge.

"We don't know which lifeboat the biscuit came from but there are no other Titanic lifeboat biscuits in existence, to my knowledge. It is incredible that this biscuit has survived such a dramatic event."

A biscuit from a party held on the Titanic before her maiden voyage sold for £3,525 in 2001. A biscuit from Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition to the Antarctic recently auctioned for $1,950.

Titanic memorabilia has soared in value of late, with the centenary commemorations in 2012 bringing new collectors to the sector. Earlier this month one of only three menus from Titanic's last lunch auctioned for $88,000.

Titanic lifeboats
The Titanic lifeboats approach the Carpathia - this photo is expected to make £2,000

The biscuit forms part of the James Fenwick Titanic collection, which is being sold across several lots. It includes a photo of two Titanic lifeboats arriving at the Carpathia. It has a £2,000 ($3,072) estimate.

The Titanic, said to be unsinkable, capsized in the Atlantic in April 1912 on its maiden voyage. Two thirds of the 2,344 people on board died.

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