{"id":36011,"date":"2024-04-26T10:02:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/26\/titanics-treasures-captivate-collectors-but-theyll-need-deep-pockets\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T10:02:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:02:25","slug":"titanics-treasures-captivate-collectors-but-theyll-need-deep-pockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/26\/titanics-treasures-captivate-collectors-but-theyll-need-deep-pockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Titanic\u2019s Treasures Captivate Collectors, but They\u2019ll Need Deep Pockets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/26\/multimedia\/26xp-titanicmemorabilia-06\/26xp-titanicmemorabilia-06-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Titanic\u2019s Treasures Captivate Collectors, but They\u2019ll Need Deep Pockets\" title=\"Titanic\u2019s Treasures Captivate Collectors, but They\u2019ll Need Deep Pockets\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tony Probst\u2019s passion for the Titanic is unwavering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the mid-1990s, he has amassed hundreds of artifacts from the ship\u2019s maiden voyage in 1912, including a lifeboat plaque, china, sheet music and an array of personal documents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI believe I\u2019m the only person on planet Earth who has every piece of paper for one individual to get on board Titanic,\u201d Mr. Probst, 64, said proudly this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His collection is sometimes on display at the audio and visual store he runs with his sons in the Bay Area of California, but it has also toured prominent spaces, including the National Geographic Museum in Washington; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif.; and the Titanic museums in Branson, Mo., and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Probst\u2019s enthusiasm for the Titanic \u2014 which puts him somewhere between a collector and historian, he said \u2014 makes him part of a small but zealous community seeking out memorabilia from the ship, which sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing 1,500 people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Henry Aldridge &amp; Son Ltd, an auction house in southwest England, will host an auction on Saturday of Titanic and other shipping and transport memorabilia. Among the more than 250 items for sale is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/bid.henryaldridge.com\/auctions\/8886\/henry-10054\/lot-details\/37886c99-1209-4bf5-80fa-b14300fc4f0e\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a black-and-white photograph of an iceberg<\/a> taken by a member of a body recovery ship after the disaster and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/bid.henryaldridge.com\/auctions\/8886\/henry-10054\/lot-details\/de1dbf4d-822c-44f1-a652-b14300fc5488\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the violin case of the bandleader Wallace Hartley<\/a>, which is expected to fetch up to 120,000 pounds, or about $150,000. (The violin sold in 2013 for \u00a31.1 million, or about $1.3 million.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The reasons for seeking out items from the Titanic vary widely, but for Mr. Probst it is the stories about the victims and survivors that motivate him to keep collecting and to keep an eye on auctions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s a few people out there with very, very deep pockets and, you know, nowadays they get all the prime pieces,\u201d Mr. Probst said. \u201cI\u2019m not in that category. I\u2019m really more into preserving stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Probst, who said he was recuperating from a couple of big purchases, does not have anything on his wish list at the moment but planned to study the auction catalog anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI really want to go after things that I want,\u201d he said, or items that he could lease to museums. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI call it my retirement account, in a way, because I get the principle and that goes up in value,\u201d he added. \u201cBut in the meantime, I get to lease it out and make a little money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Henry Aldridge &amp; Son has been holding Titanic-themed sales biannually since the late 1990s, according to Andrew Aldridge, the managing director of the auction house. Mr. Aldridge said bidders often had their own niches and individual motivations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSome just collect Titanic memorabilia, per se,\u201d he said. \u201cBut others go a little bit deeper and they work into specifics. Specific passengers, specific classes. People that come from specific areas. We\u2019ll have people that just collect things from Scandinavian passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Titanic-collecting community is fairly small, particularly at the higher end of purchases, said David Scott-Beddard, chairman of the British Titanic Society. Competition for hot-ticket items can sometimes be fierce. \u201cTo a certain extent, it\u2019s how much do I want it and how much am I prepared to spend on it \u2014 without the wife finding out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was not much concern over items disappearing from the public view after being purchased, Mr. Scott-Beddard added. He said the community was very fortunate that a majority of collectors, even those shopping at the six- and seven-figure levels, were generous enough to allow their pieces to be displayed for the general public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTitanic is probably, next to Noah\u2019s ark, history\u2019s most famous ship,\u201d said Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society. Some enthusiasts are driven by the search for increasingly rare artifacts carried off the ship by passengers, others by psychological connections that collectors sometimes make, viewing the disaster through the eyes of victims and survivors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Haas said he was unsure whether a day would come when demand for Titanic items waned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Titanic story has already lasted 112 years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd while there are people out there who say, \u2018The ship sank, get over it,\u2019 it has so much built-in drama to it that the younger generations are still quite fascinated by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Haas hopes that they will carry on in the footsteps of current collectors, who Mr. Aldridge says are merely the temporary<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>custodians of the artifacts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe best way to describe it is: You never own these objects,\u201d Mr. Aldridge said. \u201cYour job is to hold onto to them for as long as they\u2019re in your possession. Keep them safe and then pass them forward to the next generation, the next individual, the next collector.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/26\/world\/europe\/titanic-auction-memorabilia.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tony Probst\u2019s passion for the Titanic is unwavering. Since the mid-1990s, he has amassed hundreds of artifacts from the ship\u2019s maiden voyage in 1912, including a lifeboat plaque, china, sheet music and an array of personal documents. \u201cI believe I\u2019m the only person on planet Earth who has every piece of paper for one individual [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/26\/multimedia\/26xp-titanicmemorabilia-06\/26xp-titanicmemorabilia-06-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39050,23015,2481,358,39051,32368,39049],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36013,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36011\/revisions\/36013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}