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A gold watch worn by John Jacob Astor IV, a member of the wealthy Astor family and the richest man aboard the Titanic, will go up for sale in an auction of memorabilia from the ship.
Astor was one of about 1,500 people who died when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg. His pregnant wife, Madeleine, survived.
The watch is among a number of notable items up for auction at Henry Aldridge & Son auction house in Wiltshire, England, on Saturday, including the band leader's violin holder as the ship sank, and a pocket book documenting the voyages of planned Titanic.
The violin itself sold for $1.7 million through the same auction house in 2013 and is the highest-selling item from the ship ever.
The watch is expected to sell for between £100,000 and £150,000 ($125,000-$188,000) and value between £100,000-£120,000 ($125,000-$150,000), according to Andreëaging Director of Andreëaging House, Alridge. Bidding begins April 27 at noon local time (7 a.m. ET), Aldridge told CNN.
According to the auction house, the watch was among the personal items found with Astor's body after the sinking of the Titanic. Among other things, he had gold cuffs, a diamond ring, money and a pocket book.
After Astor's body was found, those possessions were sent to his son, Vincent Astor, who completely restored the clock to make it work. In 1935, Vincent gave the watch as a christening gift to the infant son of William Dobbyn IV, John Jacob Astor's executive secretary, according to the auction house.
Aldridge told CNN that the Dobbyn family kept the watch until the late 1990s, when it went up for auction.
An unidentified collector in the United States purchased the watch in this auction and is the current seller. Since then, it has been exhibited in several museums.
"So, you know, over the course of time, literally millions of people have seen it, which is fabulous," Aldridge said.
Also offered in Saturday's auction are John Jacob Astor IV's cufflinks and the Titanic's first-class accommodation plan. The cuffs are expected to sell for between £5,000 and £8,000 ($6,250-$10,000) and the accommodation plan between £ 20,000 and £30,000 ($25,000-$37,500).
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