Antique Roadshow - Luncheon Menu
joem...@earthlink.com
people who bring in their antiques. Sometimes they find some very
valuable items. On tonight's show, someone brought in an small oil
painting of the Titanic. The painting itself was practically worthless,
but affixed to the back of the frame, was a First Class Luncheon Menu from
the RMS Titanic dated April 14, 1912. The dealer who gave the appraisal
said he was very knowledgeable regarding Titanic items, as he had dealt
heavily in the field at one time. According to him, this is the ONLY
known complete menu that survived the sinking. His opinion is that at
auction it would bring anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 dollars. He was
very confident that it was a genuine artifact and not a replica.
The owner of the piece had bought the painting at a local antique shop
back in 1971. The dealer who sold him the piece said that it was from
the son of a survivor of the ship, and that he was a crew member of the
Titanic. Unfortunately, he was not given the name of the survivor. But
it is interesting to think who it may have been. Perhaps it was a
crewman who was given the responsibility of manning a lifeboat? I can't
imagine him carrying it with him on the lifeboat, but it is interesting to
think how it could have happened.
I am interested if anyone else has heard of a menu surviving the sinking?
Joe
Andrew and Rebecca Hall
> The owner of the piece had bought the painting at a local antique shop
> back in 1971. The dealer who sold him the piece said that it was from
> the son of a survivor of the ship, and that he was a crew member of the
> Titanic. Unfortunately, he was not given the name of the survivor. But
> it is interesting to think who it may have been. Perhaps it was a
> crewman who was given the responsibility of manning a lifeboat? I can't
> imagine him carrying it with him on the lifeboat, but it is interesting to
> think how it could have happened.
It seems more odd to me that he'd even have such an item on his person,
unless of course he happened to be a dining saloon steward.
> I am interested if anyone else has heard of a menu surviving the sinking?
Partial menus have survived from all three classes, and are reproduced
(among other places) in the 1976 edition of _A Night to Remember_.
----------> AH
______________________________________________
What were their names, tell me,
What were their names?
Did you have a friend
On the good Reuben James?
Tytanyck
the back of the oil painting of the Titanic. [thanks Joe]
This man was totally surprised of the treasure that he had found, I just wonder
what he's going to do with it now that he knows that is so valuable...
Basically the guy won the lottery.
>From: joem...@earthlink.com
>I am interested if anyone else has heard of a menu surviving the sinking?
That's a good question, I look forward to hear more about this one.
Eduardo in Denver [ready for the THS convention in 3 days]
Louis Epstein[LinerProj]
: The format of this PBS series is for dealers to give free appraisals to
: people who bring in their antiques. Sometimes they find some very
: painting of the Titanic. The painting itself was practically worthless,
: but affixed to the back of the frame, was a First Class Luncheon Menu from
: the RMS Titanic dated April 14, 1912. The dealer who gave the appraisal
: said he was very knowledgeable regarding Titanic items, as he had dealt
: heavily in the field at one time. According to him, this is the ONLY
: known complete menu that survived the sinking. His opinion is that at
: auction it would bring anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 dollars. He was
: very confident that it was a genuine artifact and not a replica.
: The owner of the piece had bought the painting at a local antique shop
: back in 1971. The dealer who sold him the piece said that it was from
: the son of a survivor of the ship, and that he was a crew member of the
: Titanic. Unfortunately, he was not given the name of the survivor. But
: it is interesting to think who it may have been. Perhaps it was a
: crewman who was given the responsibility of manning a lifeboat? I can't
: imagine him carrying it with him on the lifeboat, but it is interesting to
: think how it could have happened.
: I am interested if anyone else has heard of a menu surviving the sinking?
The dealer said that this was the only known April 14 luncheon menu,
but I can't believe that it was previously unknown.The entire text of
the April 14 luncheon menu is reproduced in Arthur C. Clarke's 1976
novrl "Imperial Earth"...I was comparing those pages with the text on
screen as I watched the show.
(In the novel,written of course before Ballard found the wreck,
the ship is assumed to have been discovered in better shape than
we now know to have been the case,patched,refloated,and taken to
New York.Characters are shown "A Night to Remember",still considered
in 2276[the novel concerns a man's visit to Earth for the USA
Quincentennial] to be the definitive Titanic film,though it is
mentioned that a new film will soon begin production shot on the
ship itself...which makes one wonder if they would sink it again.
The luncheon served from that menu and the ANTR screening take place
on board the ship in New York).
JETman
> >
> The dealer said that this was the only known April 14 luncheon menu,
> but I can't believe that it was previously unknown.The entire text of
> the April 14 luncheon menu is reproduced in Arthur C. Clarke's 1976
> novrl "Imperial Earth"...I was comparing those pages with the text on
> screen as I watched the show.
>
> (In the novel,written of course before Ballard found the wreck,
> the ship is assumed to have been discovered in better shape than
> we now know to have been the case,patched,refloated,and taken to
> New York.Characters are shown "A Night to Remember",still considered
> in 2276[the novel concerns a man's visit to Earth for the USA
> Quincentennial] to be the definitive Titanic film,though it is
> mentioned that a new film will soon begin production shot on the
> ship itself...which makes one wonder if they would sink it again.
> The luncheon served from that menu and the ANTR screening take place
> on board the ship in New York).
One should also consider the fact that not all the printed menus were on
the ship when she sailed.
Regards,
JT, Austin, Texas - Home of the Annual Spamarama Festival
(the kind in a can!)
Saturday, May 1, 1999 at Auditorium Shores on Town Lake!
Replace the “*” with an “s“ when replying!
Tom Pappas
>the ship when she sailed.
I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the menus were printed in the
on-board print shop.
--
Half-baked Titanic theories galore at
http://home.earthlink.net/~tomswift1
Could the collision be avoided?
Hitting the iceberg head-on
How many could have been saved?
A tale of two icebergs
Could the ship have been kept afloat?
How many could Californian have saved?
"But this script can't sink!"
"She is made of irony, sir. I assure you, she can."
JETman
>
> >One should also consider the fact that not all the printed menus were on
> >the ship when she sailed.
>
> I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the menus were printed in the
> on-board print shop.
>
Very possible. But they may have been the second "run through" where
the background was printed commercially and the day to day menus printed
on the ship.
Quite a task since I believe that this was before the offset printing
era.
Have we opened up a can of worms here???
--
William J. Leary Jr.
JETman <jeta*s...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:370A81...@worldnet.att.net...
> One should also consider the fact that not all the printed menus were on
> the ship when she sailed.
I saw the bit the original poster was talking about.
The guy looking at the menu claimed to be something of a expert on Titanic
materials and claimed that the menus were printed daily onboard.
- Bill