LONDON: A fur coat worn by a first class stewardess when the Titanic sank in 1912 has been sold for 150,000 pounds at an auction in the UK, almost double its original valuation of 80,000 pounds. Mabel Bennett, who was 33 at the time, was in her nightdress when the ship began to sink after hitting an ice berg.
More than 1,500 passengers and crew died when the ship sank in April 1912, on its maiden voyage. She put on the beaver lamb fur coat she owned to keep her warm as she boarded lifeboat, the Telegraph reported. Bennett died aged 96 in 1974 and was the longest living female member of the crew. She passed the coat to her great niece in the 1960s as she found it too heavy to wear.
The fur coat and letter of provenance went under the hammer yesterday at an auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire. "This stunning coat is unique in that not only was it a personal possession of a Titanic crew member that was worn... but, to our knowledge, represents the only piece of exceptionally well provenance clothing from Titanic to ever come to auction," the auctioneers said. The coat had been on display in the US after it was sold by her family in 1999.
The full length coat was bought by a bidder in the room – and sold for a lot more than the estimate of 50,000 pounds to 80,000 pounds. The auctioneer said the coat had a "lovely, lovely history" and said it brought a family back together after they had broken up as a result of the disaster.