US Government Pushes Back Against Titanic Artifact Auction Plan

A plan to auction more than 100 artifacts salvaged from the wreckage of the Titanic — including personal belongings, currency, kitchen items and decor — is facing pushback from the U.S. government, according to newly unsealed court documents.

RMS Titanic Inc., the company that owns exclusive salvage rights to the famous wreck in the North Atlantic, wants to sell artifacts for the first time despite previous agreements to only display them at museums and traveling exhibitions.

RMS Titanic has proposed auctioning the artifacts and displaying them on a global exhibition tour in four cities, although those locations haven't been publicly revealed. Court documents filed in the U.S. referenced the Georgia-based company's plan to sell artifacts including a bronze cherub, a necklace of gold nuggets and a heart-shaped pendant.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration represents U.S. interests and oversight in the wreck site. The agency contends such a sale would violate RMS Titanic's legal obligations to the site, according to documents a judge ordered unsealed earlier this month.

In arguing that the auction should be prohibited, the government wrote that the company “does not seek the Court’s approval, does not believe that approval is required, and asserts that it is not restricted in its ability to sell” the artifacts.

Representatives for RMS Titanic did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. Its attorneys previously said in a federal court filing that the proposed auction arrangement wouldn’t violate existing court orders and agreements about the artifacts.

Since 1987, the company has retrieved thousands of items and even chunks of the Titanic’s hull. It makes money by exhibiting them.

The company has made attempts over the past couple of decades to sell the artifacts to fund future explorations and as it faced financial trouble. But those efforts were roundly opposed by U.S. courts along with preservation groups and relatives of the victims. Some of the salvaged items belonged to passengers aboard the ship.

However, items saved by survivors or plucked from the water by rescuers can be sold and often fetch big sums — a life jacket worn by a passenger sold for just over $900,000 in April while a gold pocket watch given to the ship captain who rescued the survivors sold for nearly $2 million in 2024.

Auctioneers say the unending fascination with the Titanic — which sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Europe to New York in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people — and the rarity of artifacts adds up to high demand and exorbitant prices.

Opponents of selling artifacts recovered from the wreckage say the company is bound by a 1990s agreement that gave RMS Titanic exclusive salvage rights to the ship in exchange for promising to never sell those items. Undersea explorers have sometimes pushed back at the idea of selling Titanic artifacts, which they argue should be displayed in the public interest.

“I don’t have a problem with people recovering artifacts from the Titanic as long as it’s done careful, with proper archaeological techniques,” said Greg Stone, a veteran ocean explorer and ocean scientist. “I’d feel better if it was a nonprofit enterprise.”

The rules governing the display and sale of Titanic artifacts are intended to preserve the wreckage for the benefit of the public and so it can't be “picked up by billionaires for further display of their wealth and power,” said Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston who specializes in public interest advocacy.

“If it’s something where someone can walk through their house and say ‘Yes, I bought this for $5 million and it’s original from the Titanic,’ that’s not a good thing,” he said.