Titanic Violin To Be Auctioned For Record-Breaking Price

The violin saved from the same fate as the doomed Titanic's, is being auctioned for a record-breaking price, according to the Daily Mail.

The violinist, Wallace Hartley, was one of more than 1,500 victims aboard the ill-fated ship that sank to the depths of the Atlantic on April 15, 1912.

However, his memory still lives on in his beloved violin that was valiantly rescued when the bodies of three out of eight band members were drawn from the water by a search crew of the CS Mackay-Bennett. Hartley's body was taken back and laid to rest in Colne, Lancashire England.

Some media reported the violin was strapped to Hartley's chest, but conflicting reports found only his clothes, spare change, a ring, a pen, a watch and chain were recovered as his body was recovered, Daily Mail reported.

"It is the most iconic and important item ever connected to the Titanic to come up for sale," said a source tied to the auction in an interview with The Inquisitr.

The violin was returned to Hartley's fiancé Maria Robinson, who bought him the violin before the tragic event as an engagement gift. 

The violin's seller remains anonymous and the auction is being conducted by Henry Aldridge and Son from Devizes, Wiltshire. The auctioneers are composed of father and son team, Alan and Andrew Aldridge, who were globally accepted as the foremost experts in the sale of Titanic and White Star Line Material.

The auction will take place on April 20 just five days after the ship's anniversary.  In October 2008, the auctioneers sold more than 235,000 pounds for the Stone Collection of Titanic Memorabilia.

The violin clearly needs to be verified as the original, and if it's proved to be, experts predict it will sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.  So far, the instrument passed all authentication tests from the last seven year except one and those results are to be announced early March, according to the Daily Mail.