Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m at auction. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel travelling from Southampton to New York sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912. His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch that will go under the hammer on 22 November. … Mr Straus was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York. … On the night of the sinking, it is believed his devoted wife refused a place in a lifeboat as she did not want to leave her husband and said she would rather die by his side. Ida’s body was never found.” (11/13/25)