Titanic advert from 1911 discovered during home renovation is set to fetch 3000

Publish date: 2024-07-19

A rare poster advertising the Titanic has been found on the back of a painting hidden behind a false wall by a couple renovating their home.

The lithographic print is one of three adverts produced in 1911 for the White Star Line promoting trips on the Titanic and sister ship the Olympic.

The posters were withdrawn after the Titanic sank in April 1912 with a loss of 1,522 lives – so there are few examples left.

The unnamed couple demolished a wall in the house they bought in Wales and found a landscape painting in the cavity. When they took it from the frame they found the 23in by 32in poster beneath it.

The lithographic print (pictured)  is one of three adverts produced in 1911 for the White Star Line promoting trips on the Titanic and sister ship the Olympic. It was found on the back of a painting hidden behind a false wall

The lithographic print (pictured)  is one of three adverts produced in 1911 for the White Star Line promoting trips on the Titanic and sister ship the Olympic. It was found on the back of a painting hidden behind a false wall

The colourful advert, produced by the renowned marine artist Montague Birrell Black, depicts the hulking Titanic looming into view with a number of small sailboats in the foreground looking tiny in comparison.

The print, worth £3,000, will be sold at auction house Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 23. 

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Being sold alongside it by a separate vendor is another lithographic travel poster produced by Black showing the Olympic with the Titanic in the background, sailing into a sunset.

The 46ins by 36ins work is equally rare but is in a good condition and is worth £12,000.

Being sold alongside it by a separate vendor is another lithographic travel poster produced by Black showing the Olympic with the Titanic in the background, sailing into a sunset. The 46ins by 36ins work is equally rare but is in a good condition and is worth £12,000

Being sold alongside it by a separate vendor is another lithographic travel poster produced by Black showing the Olympic with the Titanic in the background, sailing into a sunset. The 46ins by 36ins work is equally rare but is in a good condition and is worth £12,000

And a third promotional poster for the Olympic and Titanic by James Scrimgeour Mann will also be sold at the same sale.

The 1911 poster that is 20ins by 24ins shows one of the two liners lit up at night and is valued at £4,000.

Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wilts, which is selling the three posters, said: 'These three lithographic prints form the set of three advertising posters for the Titanic and Olympic created for White Star Line in about 1911.

'They are very rare now because they are obviously over 100 years old but also they were scrapped after the Titanic disaster.'

He added: 'A couple in west Wales found the first Montague Black poster by chance. They bought a Victorian house and were doing some renovations and knocked down a false wall.

'Inside the cavity was this painting. The couple liked the frame but not the painting and when they took it out they found this poster that had been stuck to a piece of wooden backing.

'It is frayed at the edges and is missing a section at the bottom for the travel agents but it one of just a handful left.

'I have come across people finding treasures in the attic but not behind a false wall.' 

The 1911 poster that is 20ins by 24ins shows one of the two liners lit up at night and is valued at £4,000

The 1911 poster that is 20ins by 24ins shows one of the two liners lit up at night and is valued at £4,000

 

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