LONDON – The violin reportedly played by Wallace Hartley as the RMS Titanic sank, was sold at auction today. The violin was found strapped to Hartley’s body, and recovered after the ship sank.
Hartley was one of the 1547 people who perished when the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.
The violin, that took seven years to authenticate, sold for $1.6 million today.
The violin is cracked, and badly water stained. It has only has two strings. The violin was owned by Wallace Hartley, whose band continued to play – most famously, the hymn “Nearer, My God, To Thee” – as the ship sank after impacting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from England to New York.
Although it had been recovered, the violin was lost to history until 2006 when a man who has remained private, found the violin in a leather suitcase in the attic of his mother’s home.
The buyer is reported to be British but has not come forward in public.
