Authenticity is Everything
This is what I call satisfying provenance (Titanic-related)
A few years back I bought a collection of photographs of the Ostby family. The Ostbys were wealthy jewelers who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Helen and her father Engelhart travelled on the Titanic's maiden and only voyage. Helen survived the sinking but her father didn't.
More recently, I found the book "Titanic and Other Ships" by Titanic officer Commander Lightoller. To my amazement it had belonged to Helen.
The provenance could not be more cast iron and satisfying. Helen has inscribed the book with her name, the place and the date (Helen Ostby, Bruxelles, January 1935). The Mariners' Museum Library at the Christopher Newport University holds a letter that Helen wrote to a friend shortly after the sinking. The signature matches that in the book. In their "Guide to the letter" the Museum Library states that Helen was living in Brussels during the 1930s. On top of all that, the book was first published in January 1935 and bears a sticker from the WH Smith English bookshop in Brussels. It seems Helen couldn't wait to get her hands on the book - for pretty obvious reasons.
Here is a photo of Helen
......here is the inscription in the book with the bookshop sticker
....and here are the publication details
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by eddy on
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Everything about this is beautiful....down to even the bookseller's vintage label!
Congrats on owning this treasure!
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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on
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Thanks for your kind words Eddy. I really get a buzz out of items and connections like this. Monetary value is not everything.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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Wonderful post that tickles my Titanic fancy! Mt only Titanic related autograph is below. I do have Cunard Commodore Pritchard who testified on Day 27 (June 28, 1912) of the British Inquiry into the Titanic Disaster.
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Thanks Eric. Nice that you have an autograph dedicated to you personally.
I don't have many Titanic-related autographs either. I think four in total, of which one is a probably not genuine (a Wallace Hartley that I have posted on here before).
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You might find this link of interest. Most all known information should be here.
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Thank you Eric. I think it is clear that the woman shown in the link is the same woman as in my photograph. I only wish the family hadn't cut the photograph to fit an oval frame. This is how Helen was when I got her.
The family photographs also included one of Helen's father.
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Permalink Reply by JK on
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I would have left the photo in the frame. It's in great condition and the photo was intended (modified) to be in it.
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Thank you Michelle!
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I am not sure that the frame is truly vintage. It should be darker on areas. I'd need to see the Reverse for a few seconds.
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Yes, I agree that it looks like it might be more modern. The back would indeed confirm that.
If someone cut the photo ten years ago, for example, then that would be extremely unfortunate. But even if the frame is not vintage it may be that an older damaged oval frame was replaced with a newer one.
In any case, the fact that the photo was apparently displayed by a previous owner might be the reason it exists at all. So much history that is relegated to attics and basements gets lost or destroyed over time.
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It could be a replacement frame. The haphazard cut suggests this possibility. Apart from materials and age tone of the exposed wood on the Reverse, there is the glass, backboard, nails and wire.
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