02 October,2015 06:08 AM IST | | Agencies
The meal was served just hours before the ship hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and sank, killing 1,517 people
New York: An "extremely rare" menu of the last lunch served to first-class passengers on the doomed liner Titanic has sold for a whopping $88,000 (R57 lakh) at an auction. The menu listed items including potted shrimps, grilled mutton chops and apple meringue.
The menu
The menu was saved by passenger Abraham Lincoln Salomon, who climbed aboard a lifeboat whose crew was said to have been bribed to row away instead of rescue more people. The menu is also signed on the reverse by another first-class passenger, Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, who also survived the tragedy.
Just before the tragedy
The meal was served just hours before the ship - on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York - hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and sank killing 1,517 people.
The menu, which went under the hammer on Wednesday, was described as :extremely rare: by online New York auctioneer Lion Heart Autographs.
The item surpassed its presale estimate of between $50,000 to $70,000 and sold for $88,000.
âMoney boat'
Salomon had the menu tucked inside his pocket when he boarded the infamous Lifeboat No 1 or "Money Boat".
The boat was dubbed "Money Boat" after it was rumoured that it carried five wealthy passengers to safety, who paid seven Titanic crewmembers to row away from the sinking ship.
Salomon, a stationer from Manhattan, died in 1959.
Another first-class lunch menu from Titanic sold for $1,15,000 in 2012.
