R.M.S. TITANIC : THE ISIDOR AND IDA STRAUS ARCHIVE: Quite simply one of the most important and iconic Titanic items ever to be offered for sale. The Isidor Straus pocket watch. An 18k gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch that travelled with him on the Titanic and was recovered from his body and later returned to his son Jesse alongside his other personal effects. The watch itself is engraved with his initials IS to the reverse and February 6th,1888, to the inside of the case. This date marked his 43rd birthday. 1888 was also an important year in his life as In 1888, he and his brother Nathan became full partners of the iconic Macy's Department store in New York. The watch bears the serial number 14255. The letter of provenance for the watch reads “Joan Adler at the Straus Historical Society states February 6th was both Isidor and Ida’s birth date. Isidor and his brother Nathan bought a half interest in Macys in 1888, so this must have been the occasion when he bought or was given the watch”
During the night of the sinking, Isidor and Ida made their way to the Titanic’ s Boat Deck. Isidor and several other passengers tried to convince Ida to board Lifeboat 8, which contained First Class passengers and crewmen such as Ellen Bird, Ida Straus’s maid, The Countess of Rothes and Ella White. When Isidor was offered a seat due to his age, he replied that he would not go before the other men. Ida, refusing to leave her husband, said, “I will not be separated from my husband; as we have lived, so will we die together.” They were last seen sitting on deck chairs, facing fate by each other’s side, the ultimate real love life story.
Isidor’s body was recovered, but Ida’s body was never found. She is memorialised on her husband’s grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.
The watch is listed as part of Isidor’s effects in the official body recovery list.
96 - MALE - ESTIMATED AGE, 65 - FRONT GOLD TOOTH (Partly) - GREY HAIR AND MOUSTACHE
CLOTHING - Fur-lined overcoat; grey trousers, coat and vest; soft striped shirt; brown boots; black silk socks.
EFFECTS - Pocketbook; gold watch; platinum and pearl chain; gold pencil case; silver flask; silver salts bottle; £40 in notes; £4 2s 3d in silver.
FIRST CLASS - NAME - ISIDOR STRAUSS
The watch has been treasured in the Straus family since its original purchase in 1888 and has been passed through the generations alongside the Titanic letter written by Ida. The movement was restored by Isidor’s great-grandson, Kenneth Hollister Straus, a New York philanthropist, who was the last of the Straus family to be a top executive of R. H. Macy & Company, to enable it to be worn again.
Kenneth Hollister Straus was described by the New York Times as a scion of the family of merchant princes who ruled Macy's, the New York-based chain of department stores, until his father, Jack I. Straus, relinquished his posts as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1968. Kenneth Hollister Straus began working at Macy's in 1947 and retired in 1986, the same year the retailer was taken private in a $3.6 billion buyout. The letter is also sold with a letter of provenance from a direct descendant.
The watch quite simply represents one of the finest and rarest objects from the Titanic story in existence, a piece which was a treasured personal possession from one of the most respected and high profile men from the Titanic story. At the turn of the 20th century, a pocket watch was one of the closest things to the heart of a gentleman of the era, and this watch embodies this as a gift from one half of the most famous couple on the Titanic to the other.
NB: Please note this lot is on exhibition at the world’s largest Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge, TN, USA. Interested parties are invited to view the lot in situ at the museum. We will be happy to liaise with the successful purchaser to arrange collection from the museum.