New Record, Valuables From Ships Sold For IDR 40 Billion

The historic clock from Badminton was sold (Photo: CNN)

JAKARTA - Isidor and Ida Straus are remembered as the two most famous victims in the tragedy ofTEN, as well as first-class passengers who were also killed in the incident.

The couple, also described in James Cameron's 'Titanic' (1997) film, have actually been offered a place in one of the rescue mandates. But both refused because they did not want to be separated.

Isidor's body, which is one of the owners of the MAY's department store in New York, was later discovered. While his wife's body was never found. Now more than a century after the world's most famous maritime disaster, the gold pocket watch Isidor wore at the time of the incident sold at record prices.

Reporting from the CNN page, at an auction in the UK on Saturday, November 22, 2025, the historic clock sold for 1.78 million Sterling pounds or nearly IDR 4 billion. This makes it the most valuable memorabilian object ever sold.

The previous record was held by John Jacob Astor IV's gold watch, the richest person on board who sold for 1.175 million Sterling pounds or Rp25 billion in April 2024.

Isidor's watch was found with his body and then returned to his son, Jesse. Meanwhile, Ida is commemorated through an inscription on her husband's grave in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York.

The clock was engraved with the initials Isidor and February 6, 1888, his 43rd birthday, as well as the year when he and his brother, Nathan, became full partners in the company Nay's.

Henry Aldridge & Son's auction house, which handles the sale, describes the watch as one of the most important and iconic object ever auctioned. The clock was passed down from generation to generation in the family before being released for sale.

In the 1997 film 'Titanic', the couple Straus, played by Lew Palter and Elsa Raven, is depicted hugging on the bed when the ship sank. In fact, the couple who were on their way back to the United States from Germany was last seen by the survivors standing together on the deck, holding hands, before being swept away by the waves.

The two of them were actually directed to go up to flight number eight, but Isidor refused as long as there were still younger men who were prohibited from going up. The wife then refused by saying, 'Wherever you go, I'll go too.'