A menu from the Titanic’s last lunch has sold at auction for about $120,000, and the most valuable Titanic item ever sold is a gold pocket watch that made £1.78 million (about $2.3 million) in November 2025. The old story here was a September 2015 online sale with an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. That sale came in at $88,000. We have rebuilt the page around every surviving Titanic menu we could trace to a dated sale, and around the biggest Titanic sales of 2025 and 2026.
The three menu sales below are ranked by price. After them comes a second ranking of the most valuable Titanic pieces of any kind.
| Rank | Item | Price (USD) | Sale date | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Dodge lunch menu, 14 April 1912 | about $120,000 (£76,000) | 31 March or 1 April 2012 | Henry Aldridge & Son, Devizes, England |
| 2 | First-class dinner menu, 11 April 1912 | about $102,000 (£84,000) | 11 November 2023 | Henry Aldridge & Son, Devizes, England |
| 3 | Last lunch menu, signed by Isaac Frauenthal | $88,000 | 30 September 2015 (inferred) | Lion Heart Autographs, online, New York |
1. Washington Dodge lunch menu, 14 April 1912: about $120,000 (£76,000)
A first-class lunch menu from the table of American banker Washington Dodge. His wife Ruth put it in her handbag after the meal, and she carried it into a lifeboat that evening. That is how it survived.
The card listed more than 40 dishes across several courses, including chicken a la Maryland, eggs Argenteuil and grilled mutton chops. It sold to a Britain-based collector, and reports said it was one of only a few such menus known to exist.
How we valued it: the £76,000 sale price reported by several outlets, shown here as about $120,000. Outlets differ on the exact dollar conversion and on whether the sale fell on 31 March or 1 April.
2. First-class dinner menu, 11 April 1912: about $102,000 (£84,000)
The first dinner served on board after the ship left Queenstown, three days before the sinking. It lists oysters, beef, spring lamb and mallard duck, and the card is water damaged, with an embossed red White Star burgee.
It was found in a 1960s photo album after the death of a Nova Scotia historian, and his family brought it to the auctioneer. The auction house said it found no other surviving first-class menu for that night.
How we valued it: the reported hammer-plus-premium total of about $102,000. Outlets quote £83,000 or £84,000 for the same sale, and the sale day is inferred from report dates.
3. Last lunch menu, signed by Isaac Frauenthal: $88,000
The menu that this article first covered. It lists corned beef, dumplings and other dishes, and the back is signed in pencil by first-class passenger Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, who escaped in a different lifeboat. It came from the Salomon family, since Abraham Lincoln Salomon took it aboard the so-called Money Boat.
Our earlier version reported the estimate as $50,000 to $70,000 from the pre-sale release. The final price landed above that range.
How we valued it: the final price of $88,000 from the dated report. The report did not state the sale day, so the date is inferred from the publication date.
The most valuable Titanic items sold
Menus sit in the middle of the Titanic market. These pieces went for more, all through the same Wiltshire auction house, with one exception.
- Isidor Straus gold pocket watch: £1.78 million (about $2.3 million), November 2025. The auction house described it as the most valuable Titanic artifact ever sold.
- Violin said to have been played as the ship sank: £900,000, October 2013. It sold in Devizes. The auctioneer has said it could now be worth three or four times that.
- Survivor’s life jacket: £670,000 (about $904,500), April 2026. The jacket was worn by first-class survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli, who left the ship in Lifeboat 1 with her employers.
- Fender from Lifeboat 2: just under £400,000, April 2026.
- Frederick Sutton gold pocket watch: about $215,000, April 2026.
These are reported figures from dated sale coverage and the auction house’s own commentary. We have not included conflicting or undated prices.
Records set in 2025 and 2026
The Straus watch in November 2025 reset the record for any Titanic item. In April 2026 the life jacket, the lifeboat fender and the Sutton watch all sold at Henry Aldridge & Son. We found no new menu sale in 2025 or 2026, so the menu prices above still stand as the references. A separate legal dispute over plans to auction items recovered from the wreck was reported in June 2026, and we have not covered it here.
What drives these prices
- A named person. The Dodge menu, the Straus watch and the Francatelli jacket all trace to someone we know by name. Provenance can double a price.
- Survival as proof. Paper that left the ship in a pocket or a handbag is rare. The auctioneer found no other first-class menu for 11 April.
- Anniversary timing. The 2012 and 2015 sales came around the centenary and the wreck discovery’s 30th anniversary, when media interest peaks.
- One house dominates. Most record sales here come from a single English specialist. Its catalogue, not an open market, sets the pace.
FAQ
How much did the Titanic last lunch menu sell for?
One lunch menu from 14 April 1912 sold for about £76,000 (roughly $120,000) in 2012. A signed last lunch menu sold for $88,000 in September 2015.
How many Titanic menus survive?
Few. The auction house that sold the 2012 menu said only a handful were known, and a 2023 sale was for what it said was the only known first-class menu for 11 April.
What is the most valuable Titanic item ever sold?
The Isidor Straus gold pocket watch, which sold for £1.78 million (about $2.3 million) in November 2025.
What did the 2023 Titanic dinner menu sell for?
About £84,000, or around $102,000, at Henry Aldridge & Son in November 2023. Other outlets quote £83,000.
Who bought the 2015 menu?
The reports we used did not name the buyer of the $88,000 menu, so we do not either.
What did the menu list for lunch?
The signed last lunch menu listed corned beef, dumplings and other savory items, and the Dodge menu offered chicken a la Maryland and grilled mutton chops.
How we put this list together
We ranked menus by reported sale price and listed other Titanic sales as a separate table of dated results, compiled in our own valuation model. Prices are approximate and change as new sales appear.
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Last updated: October 2026.
