Violin that was played while Titanic sank heads for the auction block

One of the most enduring images from the sinking of the Titanic is the ship’s band playing on while the ocean liner went down. On April 20, a year after the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the violin that played as the lifeboats were boarded will come up for auction, pending the result of a final authenticity test. The courageous musicians have been immortalized in myth and movie, and now, Wallace Hartley's violin could be the most valuable artifact related to the disaster to go up for sale. Experts believe the violin was plucked from the North Atlantic and returned to Maria Robinson, Hartley's fiancee, who had given him the instrument. The anonymous seller says the violin was a gift from Robinson. Hartley, along with the seven other musicians, died in the disaster; Robinson remained unmarried until her death in 1939. [Source]

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