Titanic's last lunch menu sells for $88,000 at auction

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A menu for the last luncheon served to the first-class passengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic has sold for $88,000 at an online auction. The menu, which was saved by a first-class passenger, was sold on Wednesday to a private collector, Auctioneers Lion Heart Autographs said. The price was in line with pre-sale estimates. Stamped with a date of April 14, 1912 and the White Star Line logo, the menu included grilled mutton chops and custard pudding; corned beef; mashed, fried and baked jacket potatoes; a buffet of fish, ham and beef; an apple meringue pastry; and a selection of eight cheeses. Lion Heart Autographs said the menu was saved by Abraham Lincoln Salomon, one of the passengers who escaped on the so-called "money boat" lifeboat that was filled with wealthy people. It is thought to be one of only three or four menus from the ship's last lunch that still exist. The menu was offered for sale by an unidentified person who was given some Titanic items by a descendant of one of the lifeboat survivors. The luxury ocean liner foundered in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York. Some 1,500 people lost their lives. (Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Frances Kerry)