'Titanic' doll up for auction

Only the head remains of passenger Eva Hart's favourite doll, whom she had to leave behind in her berth when she fled the sinking ship on April 1, 1912.

The doll was found 41 years ago, 2,000 metres under water, halfway across the Atlantic between Southampton, UK and New York, by Captain Abel Federico Nogueiras of the shipping company Argenbel, and he kept her for the next 15 years until his death.

Collector Teresa Martín, from the province of Huelva in Spain's far south-west, contacted Eva Hart and came to an agreement allowing her to keep the doll.

Eva died in 1996, never having seen her doll again, but happy in the knowledge that she had been found.

Before the doll was recovered, Eva had always made reference to her when interviewed about her ordeal on the Titanic and her survival after the luxury ocean-going liner sank on its maiden voyage.

Four years ago, Teresa Martín put her collection of over 300 dolls on display in the local museum in her home village of Ayamonte, which is where they remain today.

Teresa had always had a soft spot for Eva's doll, but has decided she needs a new home and has listed her on the online auction site, Catawiki, until tomorrow (Tuesday, June 5) at 20.00.

Only two passengers were known to have been carrying dolls on the Titanic in the same class of cabin as Eva, and the other was found years before.

To prove the authenticity of the doll, the head was fitted into the mould used by manufacturers Shoenau & Hoffmeister in 1906.

The doll's body remains missing, the hair has fallen off her head and her face is covered with barnacles, but despite her spine-chilling appearance that resembles something out of a Stephen King film, her historical value means she is likely to fetch an eye-watering sum at auction.

Tomorrow night will reveal whom the new owner is.

Photograph: Catawiki