Titanic passenger's rare gold pocket watch could become priciest artifact ever sold

A gold pocket watch recovered from one of the richest passengers aboard the Titanic may become the most expensive artifact from the tragedy ever sold, according to experts.

The watch belonged to Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy's department store, who was aboard the ill-fated ship in April 1912, along with his wife, Ida Straus. The couple were returning to New York from a trip to Europe. 

"One account stated they were last seen sitting on the deck arm in arm, although in [the film] 'Titanic' they were depicted lying side by side on the bed in their stateroom," according to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge.

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Ida Straus did not want to abandon her husband - and famously refused a spot in a lifeboat, preferring instead to remain by his side. "My place is with you," she reportedly told him. "I have lived with you. I love you, and, if necessary, I shall die with you."

Instead, her maid was shuffled into a lifeboat and given her fur coat to keep warm.

"Isidor and Ida Straus were among the higher echelons of society," Aldridge said.

Days after the doomed vessel sank in April 1912, the Straus items were recovered in the Atlantic and returned to their son, Jesse.

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Among the items recovered was an 18-carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch engraved with the initials "IS."

The watch allegedly stopped at 2:20 a.m. - the moment the Titanic became submerged.

It is believed that Ida Straus gifted the watch to her husband in 1888 for his 43rd birthday, with the date Feb. 6, 1888, inscribed on it.

That was the same year he and his brother Nathan Straus became full partners of Macy's.

"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," said Aldridge. "This watch embodies this as a gift from one half of the most famous couple on the Titanic to the other."

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"It was a treasured personal possession of one of the most important men on Titanic," Aldridge added. "The watch quite simply represents one of the finest and rarest objects from the Titanic story."

Accompanying the sale of the watch is a letter written by Ida Straus to a family friend dated April 10, 1912.

The letter has a Titanic header and is postmarked "TransAtlantic 7" from the ship's post office before being taken off the ship with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland.

Both the watch and letter have never been seen before - and are being sold by direct descendants of the Straus family at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers of Devizes, Wiltshire.

In her letter, Ida Straus referenced an incident in Southampton, New York, in which the Titanic almost crashed with SS New York.

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"Size seems to bring its troubles," she wrote. "Mr. Straus, who was on deck when the start was made, said at one time it looked painfully near to the repetitions of the Olympic's experience on her first trip out of harbor."

She continued, "The danger was soon averted, and we are now well on our course across the channel to Cherbourg."

Aldridge said the auction house has sold several Titanic letters before, but the condition of Ida Straus' letter is exceptional and contains colorful and detailed content.

"The fact it was postmarked [at] Titanic's post office is very rare and unusual, and this will appeal to collectors," Aldridge added.

Last year, passenger John Jacob Astor's gold pocket watch sold for nearly a million dollars.

A gold pocket watch gifted to the captain of the Carpathia, the steamship that rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, also sold for about $1.8 million.

In 2013, Titanic's bandmaster Wallace Hartley's violin sold for over $1.1 million.

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The auction will take place on November 22.