R.M.S. TITANIC: Unique First-Class Dinner Menu from April 11...

Hammer

£66,000

R.M.S. TITANIC: Unique First-Class Dinner Menu from April 11th 1912, the first dinner after Titanic left Queenstown which was her final stop prior to her intended destination of New York. The menu itself bears an embossed red White Star Line burgee and would have originally shown gilt lettering depicting the initials OSNC (Ocean Steamship Navigation Company) alongside the lettering R.M.S. Titanic. The latter shows signs of water immersion having been partially erased, the reverse of the menu also clearly displays further evidence of this. This would point to the menu having been subjected to the icy North Atlantic waters on the morning of April 15th 1912 either having left the ship with a survivor who was exposed to those cold sea waters or recovered on the person of one of those lost. Having spoken to the leading collectors of Titanic memorabilia globally and consulted with numerous museums with Titanic collections we can find no other surviving examples of a First-Class April 11th dinner menu.
This snapshot into dinner on the evening of April 11th illustrates the glamour and opulent culinary delights that Titanic's First-Class passengers would have experienced. These included multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor, he was travelling with his second wife, Madeleine, who was five months pregnant. J.J. Astor did not survive but his wife did. Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon, The 'Unsinkable' Molly Brown and Isador and Ida Straus, a who's who of the rich and famous in 1912. All iconic names from the history of this ship and all would have eaten from the selection of food offered, over twenty options ranging from Squab a la Godard, Spring Lamb, Tournado of Beef a la Victoria, Mallard Duck and Apricots Bordaloue. The fare was served hours after Titanic left Queenstown, her last port of call, when night had fallen and the last sight of land extinguished.
The menu was discovered in a photo album from the 1960s after the passing of the late Len Stephenson by his daughter Mary Anita and son-in-law Allen. Len was a community historian in Dominion Nova Scotia with a keen interest in the history of the place he loved and called home and was born on November 6, 1921 in Dominion, Mr. Stephenson spent many years developing and operating the Dominion Heritage School House Museum as well as collecting and preserving many records related to the heritage of Dominion and its people. His commitment to volunteerism extended to participation as a board member for organizations such as the Cape Breton Miners' Museum, Children's Aid Society of Cape Breton, the Dominion Credit Union and Seaview Manor.
Len was well known and respected for researching history, and documenting the people, buildings and stories of Dominion. He dedicated much of his life to preserving and celebrating the heritage of his home town. The museum also holds a vast collection of photographs, many that Len had taken and developed over the years at various events around the town. He researched and led the design of the Miners' Memorial and Firemen's Monuments. A true gentleman, he shunned the accolades, reluctantly accepting "Citizen of the Century" in 2006, the Queens Jubilee Medal and the Provincial Volunteer award. During World War Two and serving as a medic in the Merchant Marines, Len lived In Newfoundland, Canada and approximately 350 miles off the coast from Titanic's wreck site. Len during one of many interviews called his writings and collections, "a very satisfying hobby" and "is something I've loved to do." Len worked as a Post Master and reported that, when there was no mail delivery, 'everyone had to come to the post office and I talked to people and listened to their stories, collected old pictures and in turn I wrote letters for them.' The menu is a remarkable survivor from the most famous Ocean liner of all time. 6¼ins. x 4¼ins.