At auction, a lady’s pocket watch discovered among the possessions of a passenger who perished on the tragic Titanic’s first voyage could fetch up to 50,000 euros (66,000 dollars).
Hans Christensen Givard, a 27-year-old Danish passenger in the second class, was one of 1,500 people killed when the ship collided with an iceberg in 1912.
Givard and two of his pals perished in the tragedy as they were traveling to the United States.
After Givard was buried in Halifax, Canada, the watch was discovered after his body was recovered from the North Atlantic.
A silver watch, a compass, a passport, keys, a savings book, and some cash in a wallet were discovered in the pockets.
The gold ladies’ pocket watch, which has signs of saltwater corrosion, was also found.
His brother in Denmark received all of his possessions back, and the watch is being sold by his successors.
The pocket watch is mentioned in the book Titanic, De Danske Fortaellinger (Titanic, The Danish Stories), which was written by curator Jesper Hjermind and his niece, journalist and U.S. resident Mette Hjermind McCall, as a direct result of Givard’s tragic narrative.
In 2012, it was also displayed in Copenhagen by Claes Goran Wetterholm, the world’s foremost expert on the Scandinavian aspect of the Titanic narrative.
On April 26, Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes, Wiltshire, will put the watch up for sale.
The item has been in Hans’s family ever since and is listed in the official list of his belongings that was put together by the Halifax, Nova Scotia, authorities in the weeks following the Titanic disaster, according to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge.
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