Auctioneer sells Titanic violin for titanic price

A violin which was played in the final minutes of the Titanic sinking has been sold for US$1.5 million. The violin, discovered in an attic in Yorkshire, has been the subject of arguments over its authenticity. However, the Titanic specialist auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son have said research, tests and provenance have proved it to be the genuine article. The violin, in a leather case initialled W.H.H. was sold at public auction in Devizes in Wiltshire. It initially had a reserve price of only US$350,000. The initials W.H.H. were those of Wallace Hartley, who has become a legendary figure in Titanic lore as the man who led his fellow musicians in a rendition of "Nearer My God To Thee" as the ship was slowly sinking. Hartley and his seven fellow band members were amongst the 1500 people who died after the Titanic was hit by an iceberg in 1912. His violin, in its case, was apparently strapped to his body when it was recovered from the icy Atlantic waters.