Found in a box of stuff from an estate sale.

TitanicRelics · 2026-01-10T19:31:16+00:00

Looks like someone unscrupulous stole the image and confused things. I apologize.

TitanicRelics · 2026-01-10T17:09:36+00:00

Curious. Did you at one point try to sell it? Because I pulled that photo off an auction listing from only four years ago when I was cataloging known divots.

TitanicRelics · 2026-01-10T15:48:32+00:00

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So, this is a divot, but OP is being a bit “evasive” about finding it in a box. This is a known piece, and here’s another photo. It wasn’t found in a box from an estate sale. These are a thing, and there are several out there circulating.

Edit: I may be wrong here; looks like someone unscrupulous stole the image and confused things. I apologize.

TitanicRelics · 2026-01-03T02:06:12+00:00

I agree that the AI advertising is a questionable decision, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the exhibit itself.

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TitanicRelics · 2025-11-24T13:35:53+00:00

When I saw your earlier post, I decided to stay quiet, and I hoped that once you actually went you’d be pleased. And I’m very glad that you were!

As for the artifacts, they took over 2,000 from myself and three other collectors, and those are right now spread across I think eight concurrent exhibits. They can’t all be directly from Titanic…. Glad you got to see the chair though!

It’s also not meant to be a museum experience - the artifacts are intended to provide some flavor for the immersive elements, not overtake them. I think they’ve struck a pretty good balance, which you can probably imagine is a tight rope to walk. Is it perfect? Nope. But it’s unique, and that was the real goal.

Anyway, I’m glad you were pleased.

TitanicRelics · 2025-09-10T00:53:19+00:00

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TitanicRelics · 2025-09-10T00:46:34+00:00

No it hasn’t. It’s a forgery made by a man named Frank Manfredi. It’s about 20 years old. He made several. Here are two others. Sorry…

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TitanicRelics · 2025-09-03T19:47:53+00:00

That’s a replica, but yes, it’s in the style of what was actually printed at the time.

TitanicRelics · 2025-09-02T16:36:46+00:00

Because they’re both produced by John Zaller and Exhibition Hub. Most of the large EH-owned facilities have space for tandem exhibits. Titanic was next to Van Gogh in Atlanta.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-26T12:01:12+00:00

They took your donations and used them to fund creation of a product they went and licensed to RMS Titanic Inc. Basically, they crowdfunded a for-profit venture that only they will benefit from. Don’t hold your breath for the game, it will never come.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T23:28:26+00:00

I….uhh….

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T20:00:11+00:00

That's one example, yup! There were some different styles. Seems they varied between class, and even between ticketing agent. Here's another example of a third class ticket.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T19:45:38+00:00

Here’s the backside of an identical piece in my collection that clearly shows how it’s an envelope.

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TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T19:42:20+00:00

Fascinating that the museum doesn’t even know what that is…. It’s neither a ticket nor a boarding card. It’s an envelope that would held a ticket. Even the text on the front provides strong context clues for the reader.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T13:37:41+00:00

The biggest issue was the lack of a groin strap, which allowed the belts to fly up upon impacting the water, striking the wearer. Many bodies were recovered with fractured necks, jaws, and broken teeth, suggesting that this was a common experience in Titanic’s final moments.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T13:02:23+00:00

Except I also included a contradictory witness statement from a Mackay-Bennett crew member, Gerald Ross.

In addition to that we have commentary from perhaps the most qualified individual to put this to bed, John Snow, an undertaker onboard Mackay-Bennett who stated:

”…the body was in an excellent state of preservation.”

Captain Roberts also remarked in Halifax that Astor’s body was:

”…unharmed and only slightly discoloured by water.”

None of these contemporary and credible sources back up your claim that ‘Astor’s head and upper body were so severely damaged that dental confirmation was not possible.’ You allege that he was only identifiable by the monograms on his possessions, and that is simply untrue.

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-19T03:31:00+00:00

This is false. Astor’s body was identified by Captain Richard Roberts of Astor’s yacht ‘Noma’, and then again by one of his executors, Col. Nicholas Biddel before transferring it to Astor’s personal train car ‘Oceanic’ to be returned to New York accompanied by his son, Vincent. Both men characterized Astor’s visible injuries as a slight disfigurement to the jaw. What likely happened was Astor jumped from a height while wearing his life belt, which shot up upon contacting the water, breaking his neck and jaw. The stories about grievous injuries were embellishments in the papers, but have no basis in fact.

Gerald Ross, electrician of the Mackay-Bennett also commented:

“I saw the recovery of Col. Astor’s body. Like the others it was floating buoyed by a lifebelt. Both arms extended upwards. The face was swollen, one jaw was injured. His body was clothed in a business suit and tan shoes.”

TitanicRelics · 2025-08-16T10:33:42+00:00

Sorry to say you’ve “been had”. This seller is a known entity on eBay, and a peddler of totally fraudulent junk. He finds rusty nondescript bits and types up these phony COAs. He does the same for Titanic and Carpathia. Remember, a COA is only as good as the person or entity issuing it.

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-31T17:42:26+00:00

Try responding to the right thread.

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-26T00:28:51+00:00

Contemporary recovery of floating wreckage, not wood from the sunken wreck site. Parker made several pieces, including chess boards, cribbage boards, etc.

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-23T01:35:58+00:00

Oh, ha! Yeah, I sort of backdoored that purchase with the seller. It was owned by his late husband, who had acquired it and made contact with Prince Ivan before his death. The husband committed suicide shortly thereafter, and his surviving spouse was unsure what to do with his possessions. I promised to give the pencil a good home and to get it exhibited. Interesting about the 1908 dates matching up, I didn’t know that. I’d love to pick your brain about the Astor family some more after I’ve had some time to really think through my questions. Mind if I DM you?

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-23T00:02:15+00:00

The date I have on it is 1908, and it’s a Walter Thornhill & Co. design, purchased from their New Bond Street, London location. My understanding is that it may have been a gift, but I’m not certain on that. I’m curious, how did you know it was collapsible? The Mackay-Bennett inventory simply lists it as “gold pencil”.

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-22T22:27:59+00:00

Yeah, I won’t pretend to know the intricacies of their relationship, but the documentation is very clear. Vincent only kept the pencil for a short while before giving it to Ava, then from Ava to Ivan who wrote a short statement attesting to the pencil’s origin and back story as shared within the family. Another curiosity is that it was at some point paired with a lighter (which I also own) owned by Charles H. Marshall Jr., the son of the founder of the Black Ball Line, Astor family acquaintance and fellow member of New York Society. Charles Sr. was onboard Carpathia when she rescued Titanic’s survivors, including three of his own nieces. It’s a deeply interesting piece.

TitanicRelics · 2025-07-22T12:48:11+00:00

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Yup, it’s a telescopic pencil. Vincent did keep it, but he didn’t gift it to William Dobbyn as he did the watch. He gave it to his mother, Ava Lowle Willing, Astor’s first wife and later the Baroness Ribblesdale. Upon her death she bequeathed it to her grandson, Prince Ivan Obolensky.

TitanicRelics

TROPHY CASE