FIRST CLASS LUNCHEON MENU - photo 1
FIRST CLASS LUNCHEON MENU - photo 2

FIRST CLASS LUNCHEON MENU

Lot 12
10.09.2024 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 340 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1279157
Lot 12 | FIRST CLASS LUNCHEON MENU
Estimate value
$ 30 000 – 50 000
FIRST CLASS LUNCHEON MENU
R.M.S. TITANIC, 14 APRIL 1912
Printed menu, signed on the verso by Isaac Frauenthal, Titanic passenger.

The ship's final luncheon on the day it struck the iceberg, from a survivor of Lifeboat No. 1.

The lavish, multi-course first class menu reflects the opulence of the era and includes dishes from around the world. Among them are the Scottish soup cock-a-leekie; something called "egg a l'argenteuil," similar to an omelet and seemingly fallen into obscurity; grilled mutton chops; (fried) chicken à la Maryland; custard pudding; the traditional English potted shrimp; Norwegian anchovies; salmon mayonnaise; galantine of chicken; and more. It was topped off with iced draught Munich lager beer.

This menu is reported to have belonged to first-class passenger Abraham Lincoln Salomon (1868-1959), a wholesale stationer with offices in New York and Philadelphia and a resident on Manhattan’s Central Park West. Salomon survived the tragedy, carrying this menu on board the infamous Lifeboat No. 1. Despite that lifeboat's forty-person capacity, only twelve people were on board when rescued by the Carpathia and rumors, likely unfounded, circulated that the crew had been bribed by the lifeboat's passengers to immediately row them to safety. Other passengers on the lifeboat with Salomon included Lucy Duff-Gordon, fashion designer; Cosmo Duff-Gordon, Lucy's husband, a Scottish landowner and sportsman; and Mabel Francatelli, secretary to Lucy. The menu is signed on the verso by first-class passenger Isaac Gerald Frauenthal (1868-1932; “I. G. Frauenthal / 1493 B[road]way”), a New York lawyer and perhaps Salomon’s luncheon companion. He also survived the disaster by leaping from the Titanic’s deck into lifeboat No. 5.

The RMS Titanic, the British passenger liner on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City, set sail on 10 April 1912. This lunch menu is dated 14 April—at 11:40pm the very same day the great ship would hit an iceberg. The sinking of the Titanic resulted in the deaths of more than 1500 passengers and crew. Few menus from the ship survive and this is the only 14 April luncheon example we have traced at auction.
Sheet: 6 ¼ x 4 ¼ in. (15.9 x 10.8 cm.) Framed.




Provenance

Abraham Lincoln Salomon, businessman and Titanic first-class passenger, 1868-1959 (by report).
Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, lawyer and Titanic first-class passenger, 1868-1932 (inscription to verso: “I. G. Frauenthal / 1493 B[road]way”).
By descent to an anonymous owner; Lion Heart Autographs, Titanic Auction, 30 September 2015, lot 103.
Acquired at the above sale by the late owner.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.09.2024 – 10.09.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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