Titanic original deck bench at auction

[Trevor Powell]

Does anyone have any information on the original Titanic deck bench that was purportedly removed before sailing to make way for excess equipment? Apparently it was sold at an auction in July 2005-anyone have an idea as to what it fetched? The bench matches those used on both the Olympic and Titanic. It first sold at auction in 1998 in the hype of the film.

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=9327&si=123

 

[Kevin Saucier]

Trevor,

That bench came from the MastroNet.com auction. Here is the web page to that auction

http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Lot Information&LotIndex=48103

I have very little trust in Mastronet after the last auction they had...see the thread in this section entitled "Auction Piece - Real?

They have sold some quality real items in the past but mix them with very questionable (out-right fake) relics. They make no attempt at authenticating what is auctioned and simply rely on the sellers honesty. Now this would be beyond question with the top-end guy's like Steve, Tony and Gary but they will take a hand written LOA from anyone who makes the claim it's a real relic.

As for the bench. It could be one or the other. Steve would know.

Here is a deck chair from the same auction:

http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Lot Information&LotIndex=48102

Kevin

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Does anyone have any information on the original Titanic deck bench that was purportedly removed before sailing to make way for excess equipment?<<

One might ask why any benches would be removed to make way for excess equipment and what exactly that "Excess eqiupment" was. There is some evidence that Titanic wasn't completely outfitted by the time of her voyage so this particular story starts to take on a decidedly fishy smell.

I'm not saying that it's a fake. For all I know, it could be the real McCoy, but I would ask for something in the way of verifiable provanance to back it up before I believed it.

 

[Spencer Knarr]

I would just like to add that during the "Cameron Craze" as I like to call it, the J. Peterman Company sold a reportedly authentic Titanic deck bench in their catalog along with several props from the movie. The story behind it was the same - supposedly removed from the Titanic before she left Belfast to make room for extra "deck equipment". I still have the catalog and will scan the page when I have a moment.