Silver brandy flask from Titanic sold for USD 98,000

A silver brandy flask given to a first-class passenger shortly before he drowned on the Titanic has sold for USD 98,000 at auction.

Helen Churchill Candee handed the item, engraved with her family's motto "Faithful but Unfortunate", to Edward Kent as the ship was sinking.

Churchill Candee survived but Kent died along with more than 1,500 people in the disaster. The flask was found when his body was recovered, the BBC writes.

The "badly out of shape" flask, sold at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, was described as "one of the most powerful and emotive three-dimensional objects from the Titanic ever offered for auction".

It had been returned to the Churchill Candee family by a relative of Mr Kent's along with a letter of explanation.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, who estimated it would fetch around USD 80,000 said the flask was an "incredibly powerful and poignant piece".

Another item auctioned off included a Titanic lifeboat plaque which sold for USD 58,000 and is believed to have once belonged to survivor Margaret Devaney.

silver brandy flask from Titanic

Titanic

silver brandy flask

Helen Churchill Candee

Edward Kent

Margaret Devaney