R.M.S. TITANIC: A partly gilt silver and brass open-face pin...

Estimate

£30,000 - £50,000

R.M.S. TITANIC: A partly gilt silver and brass open-face pin-set pocket watch, white enamel dial with Roman numerals and outer Arabic numerals, case decorated with turtle doves. Diam. 32 mm. Hands missing, worn gilding. Personally owned and found among the possessions of Danish Second-Class Passenger Hans Christensen Givard, Body No. 305, who perished in the sinking of Titanic in 1912.

Hans Givard and his two friends, farm worker Einar Windeløv and blacksmith Martin Ponesell headed for America aboard the Titanic leaving Southampton on April 10^th 1912. At that time, Givard was a well-dressed young man of 27 who, consistent with his social standing, was travelling second class. When the disaster occurred on the night of 14^th April and the Titanic sank, the adventure came to an abrupt end for the three friends, all of whom were lost in the sinking. Givard’s body was recovered from the cold North Atlantic and later buried at Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, Canada, on 10 May 1912.

The listing in the inventory of those lost states: “No. 305 2nd class passenger. Male, estimated age 36. Very fair hair and moustache. Dark brown striped suit, black overcoat, white shirt labelled ‘D.M.’, no socks, a white shoe and pink underpants.” In the pockets were found a savings book, some keys, some cash in a wallet, silver watch, compass, a passport issued by the Consulate General in Buenos Aires and a home town certificate from Vorde, Fiskbæk and Romlund Parish Municipality issued on 14 August 1911. The gilded ladies’ pocket watch up for auction was also found in Givard’s pocket and bears traces of salt water corrosion. All his belongings were returned to his brother Hans Christian Christensen Givard in Denmark, and it is his descendants who have now consigned the watch to auction. The ill-fated story of Hans Christensen Givard directly inspired curator Jesper Hjermind and his niece, journalist and US resident Mette Hjermind McCall, to write the book “Titanic – De Danske Fortællinger” (Titanic – The Danish Stories), where the pocket watch is mentioned. It was also exhibited by Claes Goran Wetterholm, the leading authority globally on the Scandinavian element of the Titanic story at “Titanic – The Exhibition” in the Hans Christian Andersen Castle at Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2012. Several links are available on YouTube of media coverage in 2012 surrounding the watch and its exhibition in Copenhagen.