Leather case for violin used on the Titanic to reassure passengers as the ship sank is set to sell for £120,000 at auction

A leather bag that protected the violin the bandmaster was playing on the Titanic when the ship sank has sold at auction for £120,000.

Wallace Hartley and his band famously played to reassure passengers as the 1912 disaster unfolded around them.

Wallace went down with the ship, but not before putting his wooden violin back in its valise bag which he tied to himself – possibly for buoyancy – using the long handles.

Days after the sinking that killed 1,522 people, Wallace’s drowned body was recovered with the bag still strapped to him.

Wallace Hartley and his band famously played to reassure passengers as the 1912 disaster unfolded around them. Pictured: A rare order of service for Wallace’s funeral held at Colne Cemetery on 18 May 1912

Days after the sinking of the Titanic that killed 1,522 people, Wallace’s drowned body was recovered with the bag still strapped to him

The violin was sold at auction for a world record price of £1.1 million after forensic tests and CT scans confirmed it was the violin played on the Titanic 101 years earlier.

The violin and case were later returned to Wallace’s fiancée, Maria Robinson, at home in Colne, Lancs.

After her death in 1939, the items were donated to the Bridlington Salvation Army band.

One of the members was a music teacher and they donated the violin to one of their students in the 1940s.

Years later it was inherited by her son, who sold it at auction for a world record price of £1.1 million, after forensic tests and CT scans confirmed that it had been played on the Titanic 101 years earlier.

The instrument – ​​the most valuable Titanic-related item in existence – is now on display at the Titanic Belfast Museum.

The 26in x 14in x 12in cabinet, which bears Wallace’s initials WHH, is now selling at auction for £100,000 to £120,000. It belongs to a private collector.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge of Henry Aldridge & Son of Devixes, Wilts, said: ‘Wallace Hartley’s violin is the most iconic piece of Titanic memorabilia ever sold at auction.

‘Without this suitcase made of English carriage skin, he would not have survived.

‘The long straps are said to have been used by Wallace to secure the bag to himself when the Titanic was sinking. It served to protect the instrument from the salty seawater.

The case measures 26 inches x 14 inches x 12 inches and has Wallace’s initials WHH on it

The bag will go under the hammer on April 27. Sold alongside it is a rare service order for Wallace’s funeral held at Colne Cemetery on 18 May 1912.

‘The bag was forensically tested and corrosion deposits were found on the lock mechanism and metalwork and were found to be consistent with immersion in seawater.

‘The bag is one of the largest pieces of luggage that survived the disaster.

‘It is a tangible link to Titanic and represents an integral part of the Hartley violin’s journey from Titanic to the present day.’

Wallace Hartley received the maple, spruce and ebony violin with the brown leather case from Maria Robinson in 1910.

Two years later he was bandleader on the Titanic for its doomed maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

After Wallace Hartley’s body was recovered, it is believed the suitcase was listed among his personal belongings as ‘luggage’

Wallace Hartley received the maple, spruce and ebony violin with the brown leather case from Maria Robinson in 1910

To maintain calm, the eight-piece orchestra was moved on deck and songs were played as the passengers were loaded into lifeboats as the liner sank after hitting an iceberg.

Mr Hartley, 33, was one of 1,522 people who died in the tragedy.

After his body was recovered, it is believed the suitcase was listed as ‘luggage’ among his personal belongings.

The bag will go under the hammer on April 27. The bag is being sold alongside as a rare service for Wallace’s funeral which was held at Colne Cemetery on 18 May 1912.