Menu
A first-class menu from the last lunch ever held on the Titanic. Henry Aldridge & Son

A first-class menu from the Titanic's last lunch served to the ill-fated passengers has fetched £76,000 from bidders at an auction.

Henry Aldridge and Son, auctioneers of Titanic memorabilia ,held an auction of collectables to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the "Unsinkable".

The historic menu, which was bought by a British-based collector, featured 40 choices including chicken a la Maryland, poached eggs with asparagus, and consomme fermier. The menu carries the all-important date of 14 April when the ship hit an iceberg and killed more than 1,500 people.

Devizes-based auctioneer Henry Aldrige Son, said the menu is one of the "rarest items of Titanic memorabilia to be sold in recent years," reported the Associated Press.

Ruth, the wife of Dr Washington Dodge, an American banker had tucked the menu card inside her purse and is one of only a handful in existence, the auctioneer said.

The Dodge family were first-class passengers on the ship and they managed to escape their stateroom and made it safely to a rescue ship, the Carpathia, by a lifeboat. Since then, the family had kept the menu with them.