Life jacket worn by Titanic passenger who survived auctioned for $900,000

World Life jacket worn by a passenger on Titanic who survived auctioned off for over $900,000 April 18, 2026 / 4:25 PM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google A life jacket worn by a passenger on RMS Titanic as she escaped the sinking steamship on a lifeboat sold at auction on Saturday for $906,000.The flotation device was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the doomed ocean liner, and is signed by her and other survivors from the same lifeboat. A Titanic life preserver, belonging to a survivor, was auctioned off for more than $900,000.  SANG TAN / AP It was the star among items in a sale of Titanic memorabilia by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, western England, and sold to an unidentified telephone bidder for well over the presale estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds.The cream-colored life jacket, made of canvas with cork-filled sections, has been displayed at museums in both the United States and Europe."There are only a handful of life jackets worn by survivors which still exist today," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told Cover Media, adding that most are held in museums and are unlikely to be sold.A seat cushion from one of the Titanic lifeboats sold at the same auction for $527,000 to the owners of two Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri.The prices include an auction-house fee known as the buyer's premium. "These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story, and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalized by these items of memorabilia," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.Billed as the world's most luxurious ocean liner and described as "practically unsinkable," the Titanic hit an iceberg off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York. It sank within hours on April 15, 1912. Some 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew died.The Titanic is still a subject of worldwide fascination, in part because of the range o...