A postcard commemorating the Titanic disaster printed and posted within days of the infamous sinking will be sold in Perth this week.
Sunk on April 15 1912, the drawing of the Titanic weaving its way through icebergs is postmarked April 24 and was sent to a woman who lived near Ladybank in Fife.
”It just shows how quickly news spread,” said auctioneer Nick Burns of Lindsay Burns and Company. ”Given the scale of the disaster, someone moved quickly to document this. Postcards were the emails of the day and a good way to spread news.”
To be sold at the King Street auction house on Thursday, the pre-sale estimate is £80 to £200.
Another postcard sent to the same Fife woman on May 15 also commemorates the Titanic disaster, bearing a copy of the hymn Nearer My God to Thee, the music famously played by the band as the ship went down. It should fetch £60 to £120.
”When we have had Titanic postcards in the past, people get quite excited all things Titanic have an aura around them,” said Mr Burns. ”Given it was 100 years ago, there has been quite a lot of media interest around the disaster.”
Another postcard sent to the same woman commemorates the death of Captain R F Scott the man who led the Discovery expedition on March 29 1912 at the South Pole.
”It is quite a find given that 100 years have just passed since this important moment in history,” said the auctioneer.
The sale also includes silver, gold and furniture and there is viewing on Wednesday from 9am to 5pm and limited viewing before the sale, which starts at 10.30am on Thursday.