Titanic artifacts, including heart pendant, face auction and legal challenge

A heart-shaped pendant was among more than 100 Titanic artifacts RMS Titanic Inc. proposed to auction in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia. The sale plan was paired with a global exhibition tour in four undisclosed cities.

The unsealed court filings, released earlier this month, also list a bronze cherub, a necklace of gold nuggets and other personal belongings, currency, kitchen items and decor, plus a sapphire-and-diamond ring and the engraved “Amy” bracelet. NOAA argues the sale would violate RMS Titanic Inc.’s obligations to preserve the roughly 5,000-item collection as a whole for the public interest, and that the company is not free to sell the artifacts without court approval. Earlier agreements allowed the objects to be shown only in museums and traveling exhibitions.

RMS Titanic Inc., based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, has held exclusive salvage rights to the wreck site since the 1990s and has recovered thousands of items since 1987, using exhibitions to generate revenue. Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, and was rediscovered in 1985 about 350 nautical miles off Newfoundland. The 1987 expedition brought up about 1,800 artifacts, and a 2011 court order granted the company title to material recovered in the 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004 expeditions.

Titanic-linked jewelry and timepieces have been drawing record prices, including £1.78 million, or $2.35 million, for an Isidor Straus pocket watch in November 2024, after a Tiffany pocket watch brought £1.56 million, just under $2 million, the year before. NOAA’s guidance comes from the 1986 R.M.S. Titanic Maritime Memorial Act, passed after Congress recognized the wreck as a site of national and international cultural and historical significance. The agency developed its rules with the United Kingdom, France, Canada and other interested countries.