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The company that holds more than 5,000 artefacts from the Titanic wreck notified a Virginia court in March of plans to sell items recovered in 1987, prompting opposition from archaeologists and heritage groups. Judge Rebecca Beach Smith rejected the firm's attempt to seal the filing.
The TimesRMS Titanic Inc notified Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in a March report of its intent to auction approximately 100 artefacts from the French Collection recovered during a 1987 Franco-American dive to the Titanic wreck. The company sought to keep the filing sealed, arguing it contained highly sensitive, non-public, proprietary business and financial information.
In an April order Judge Rebecca Beach Smith ruled against sealing the document, stating it was of particular concern that RMST seeks to seal the fact of its communicated intent to auction the items.
The proposal has drawn strong objections from archaeologists and maritime heritage organisations. Cathy Green, president of the National Maritime Historical Society, stated: “The Titanic occupies a singular place in global maritime history. ” Chris Underwood, president of the International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage, said the French government assigned the 1987 artefacts to RMS Titanic Inc's predecessor on the understanding that they would not be sold.
Underwood added that dispersal of the French Collection will contravene one of the fundamental articles of the Unesco convention on underwater cultural heritage against cultural exploitation. Jeneva Wright, chair of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, asked the court to deny the sale and suggested that the judge place the Titanic collections under the curation of an accredited museum.
Dave Parham, professor of archaeology at Bournemouth University and chair of Britain’s Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, was alerted to the potential sale by people in the game and stated that if the auction proceeds it would be seen by some as a gateway to being allowed to loot and exploit other sites of heritage around the world.
RMS Titanic Inc holds more than 5,000 artefacts salvaged over seven expeditions between 1987 and 2004. The 1,800 artefacts recovered in the 1987 mission are known as the French Collection. Artefacts including dishes, plates, jewellery and a chandelier were recovered during that expedition.
In a filing sent to the court in Virginia on Wednesday, RMS Titanic Inc maintained that it had a right to proceed with the auction. The company stated that the US is not a signatory to the Unesco convention, the treaty came into force in 2009, the artefacts were recovered in 1987, and title was received in 1993.
It noted that the award predated guidelines set out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that took effect only in 2019.
The Times reported that RMS Titanic Inc had tried to sell items from the French Collection once before during bankruptcy proceedings and faced a considerable response from heritage groups, the French government and public commentary. A lawsuit filed by C-Innovation in Louisiana states that RMS Titanic Inc owes it $4 million for chartering a ship and submersibles to photograph and scan the wreck in 2024.
C-Innovation identifies four investment companies as the owners of RMS Titanic Inc.
Edith Haisman last saw her father waving from the deck of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. She was presented with her father's gold watch recovered from the wreck 80 years after 1912. Edith Haisman received her father's watch on the condition it would revert to the collection of salvaged artefacts upon her death.
She died in 1997. On its website RMS Titanic Inc stated that it maintains the only collection of recovered Titanic artefacts and does not presently sell artefacts although it offers pieces of coal recovered from the debris field. In 2012 RR Auction offered a letter written by Wallace Hartley that sold for nearly $190,000.
Last month Freeman’s sold a gold Tiffany’s pocket watch that belonged to John Jacob Astor IV for $800,000.
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