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John Jacob Astor IV was returning from his honeymoon with his wife, who survived the 1912 disaster. His pocket watch and gold pencil case are going up for sale this month

Sonja Anderson

– Daily Correspondent

April 3, 2026

When the Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912, first-class passenger John Jacob Astor IV helped his pregnant wife into a lifeboat before going down with the ship. He was the wealthiest person on the doomed ocean liner. When he died, he was carrying gold cuff links, cash, a diamond ring, a gold pencil case and an engraved gold pocket watch.

Those personal effects were found with Astor’s body days after the Titanic sank. The pocket watch and pencil case were returned to Astor’s son, Vincent, and they’ve stayed in the family ever since. Now, the auction house Freeman’s is selling them to the highest bidder. At a sale this month, Astor’s gold pencil case is expected to fetch $10,000 to $20,000, while his pocket watch could go for $300,000 to $500,000.

“These are among the most powerful personal artifacts connected to the Titanic,” says Reginald Brack, senior vice president and head of watches at Freeman’s, in a statement. “The watch and pencil were recovered from John Jacob Astor himself, carefully preserved by his family for more than a century, and now emerge with documented provenance across four generations.”

Astor purchased the watch in 1904 from Tiffany & Co. in New York City. Made of 18-karat yellow gold, the timepiece was manufactured by the Swiss luxury watch company Patek Philippe. Its backside is engraved with Astor’s monogram.

“This single object unites four extraordinary names—Astor, Patek Philippe, Tiffany and Titanic,” Brack tells Bloomberg’s Allegra Catelli. “That also gives it a very particular place within both American luxury history and Titanic history, so it really is the perfect combination for a luxury historical chronological collector to get excited about.”

Astor, 47, was worth more than $80 million when he boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg, France. His wife, Madeleine, was only 18. The newlywed couple had been honeymooning in Europe and Egypt when Madeleine found out she was pregnant. The Astors decided to return to the United States for the birth of their child. Four days into the Titanic’s maiden voyage, the vessel collided with an iceberg.

The ensuing commotion prompted Astor to seek out the Titanic’s captain, Edward J. Smith, who advised him to bring his wife to the deck. She boarded a lifeboat less than an hour later, per Freeman’s. He asked for permission to join Madeleine, citing her “delicate condition,” but he was told that no men were to board lifeboats until all the women and children were safe.

“Astor nodded, kissed Madeleine goodbye, telling her as he did, ‘I’ll see you in New York,’ then stepped back,” according to Freeman’s. “Witnesses last saw him waving to her lifeboat.” Astor was one of roughly 1,500 passengers who perished. His effects were given to his son.

“The right steps were taken immediately to salvage this treasure for future generations,” Brack tells Bloomberg.

The pencil case, made with 14-karat yellow gold, is nearly four inches long. It’s decorated with two diamonds and a sapphire, and it’s engraved with the words “Oct. 1906 J from M.”

In 2024, another pocket watch allegedly found with Astor went for $1.5 million at auction, becoming the most expensive Titanic artifact ever sold. (In 2025, the gold pocket watch of Titanic passenger Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy’s, sold for $2.3 million.)

Records from 1912, however, suggest that Astor had only one watch on him when he died, according to Artnet’s Vittoria Benzine. Officials with Freeman’s believe that this watch is the item currently up for sale.

“We’re not in a position to comment on any other objects not consigned to our firm or prior sales, but what’s important to understand is that the strength of this watch lies in its direct recovery, multigenerational family provenance and supporting authentication,” a representative tells Artnet.