Only Living Titanic Passenger in Financial Trouble

In 1912 when the Titanic sank in the frigid North Atlantic, Millvina Dean was only 2 months old. Despite the horrific conditions, she was saved along with her brother and mother. Her father perished in the tragic accident. Now, 96 years later, she is being forced to sell some of the memorable items from that time in order to meet her ongoing costs for full-time nursing care.

Two years ago, she entered a care facility after breaking her hip and assumed that she would only be laid up for a couple weeks. After an infection set in, she was unable to recover as quickly and developed further complications as a result. She is now unable to live independently and is trying anything she can think of to help make ends meet.

Among the items Dean will be auctioning is a suitcase full of clothes that was given to her family upon their safe arrival in New York after the accident. She is hoping to make about 3000 pounds from the auction in total, which would go a long way toward alleviating some of her current financial stress.

Hopefully, the publicity she's getting will generate more wide-spread buyer interest and push up her prices even further.

Although the Titanic is one of the great tragedies of the 20th century, those types of events often generate wild interest from collectors and speculators who want to possess a piece of history or pop culture legend. Prices for the types of items Dean will be auctioning are difficult to value in advance, because it only takes two interested buyers to drive the purchase price very high. Often, there is no consideration as to the actual value of a piece, simply that a collector "wants" an item badly enough to pay whatever is necessary to obtain it. Here's hoping that Millvina finds two such buyers for her auction.

Her items will be auctioned on Saturday at Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in the town of Devizes in southwest England.