^Lot 1653 Pre-sinking Titanic

Two color postcards from Raphael Tuck & Sons’ celebrated liner series, 5.5 x 3.5, both featuring the White Star Liner in all her glory on the ocean, before the crash. The reverse of the first, a card published pre-sinking, bears a printed description of the T. S. S. Titanic: “The White Star triple-screw steamer ‘Titanic’ launched at Belfast 31st May, 1911, is one of the largest vessel afloat at the present time, and is a wonderful achievement of British shipbuilding, combined with the enterprise of the owners. This modern leviathan is nearly 900 feet long, 45,000 tons gross register, and 66,000 tons displacement. The ‘Titanic,’ in the White Star Line’s mail and passenger service between Southampton, Cherbourg, Queenstown and New York, has accommodation for about 2,500 passengers, with a crew of 860.” Postmarked April 16, 1912, this postcard bears an ink message, “This is the ship that sunk, Yours, Johanna, April 1912.” The second card, published post-sinking, bears the same informational segment, but in the past-tense. Pre-sinking card exhibits a small tear to the bottom edge. The past-tense postcard is the earliest known in existence with information pertaining to the sinking.