New York-based autograph dealer, Lion Heart Autographs, offered the menu for sale from an unidentified person who it said was a descendent of one of the survivors of the boat.
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Stamped with a date of April 14, 1912, and the White Star Line logo, the menu included grilled mutton chops and custard pudding; corned beef; mashed, fried and baked jacket potatoes; a buffet of fish, ham and beef; an apple meringue pastry; and a selection of eight cheeses.
The menu was inadvertently saved from ending up at the bottom of the ocean by a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln Solomon, who happened to have it in his pocket when the Titanic began to sink and he jumped into a boat to be rescued.
Another first-class lunch menu from Titanic sold for $1,15,000 in 2012. It is one of just four such tickets known to exist from the era.
A letter written by Mabel Francatelli to Salomon on New York’s Plaza Hotel stationery six months after the disaster fetched $7,500.
Francatelli had climbed into Lifeboat 1 with her employer, aristocratic fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon and her Scottish husband, Lord Cosmo Duff-Gordon, rumoured to have bribed the crew to row them to safety in the boat, which had a capacity of 40.
“I am afraid our nerves are still bad, as we had such trouble & anxiety added to our already terrible experience by the very unjust inquiry when we arrived in London”. It did not identify the buyers.
The menu is one of only three known to have survived the sinking of the luxury cruise liner after it struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
When food was served on the Titanic, meals often lasted up to five hours, serving up 13 courses of gourmet ingredients to wealthy diners.
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The lifeboat gained its moniker because the wealthy passengers it saved purportedly bribed the crew to row away from the disaster rather than rescue more people.
