Letter Found on Titanic Victim's Body Sells for $166K

A letter written by one of the Titanic's passengers a day before the ship sank has sold for $166,000 at an auction in England, reports the AP. The handwritten note, on embossed Titanic stationery, was penned by first class passenger Alexander Oskar Holverson on April 13, 1912—the day before the ship hit an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1,500 onboard. Holverson, a salesman, had intended to post it to his mother in New York.

The letter, one of the last known to have been written on board by the disaster's victims, was found when Holverson's body was recovered days after the sinking, in what the Guardian calls a "heavily water-stained" state. Auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, which specializes in Titanic memorabilia, said Saturday the letter was "the most important Titanic letter we have ever auctioned." (More on the letter here.)