Lifebelt saved by a Mackay-Bennett crewmember (half)

A Mackay-Bennett crewmember purportedly saved half of a lifebelt that was cut from the body of a Titanic victim. It was to be auctioned on June 10^th, 2004, by Guernsey’s in New York for an estimate of  $30,000 to $40,000 USD. The lifebelt did not sell during auction but was sold privately after the auction had ended.  It is currently owned by the Pigeon Forge / Branson Titanic Museum Attractions. The half lifebelt has its bottom two cork blocks missing, and it doesn’t have straps.

After close examination in 2018 it was noted that this lifebelt appeared to be made from cotton instead of the usual distinctive linen seen on all other bonafide Titanic lifebelt examples. Further examination showed that the remaining cork pockets do not have the same aspect ratio (height vs. width) found in other known Titanic lifebelts, that the side stitching is atypical compared to others and that an incorrect stitching method had been used previously to sew up the bottom and then removed. With image magnification it was shown that the lifebelt's side stitching had also been in another different position in the past, at one point being significantly tighter and more ‘pulled in’ which would have therefore made the pockets much smaller and narrower than any known examples. It had been theorized, by a previous owner, that perhaps the original cork blocks had been replaced with modern cork which may possibly explain the unusual current side stitching, but not the other outlying factors. Added to this, the provenance of the lifebelt has come into question, at one point being described as “identical in appearance to Titanic lifebelts” and at another time as a bonafide Titanic lifebelt. Due to the many issues this lifebelt has presented, it did not meet or pass the very high threshold that has been set in order to authenticate it as either a known Titanic or a Fosbery & Co. lifebelt, and it has therefore been decided to not include it among the list of fully authenticated, bonafide lifebelts, but instead add it to this list of  questionable ones.

The Weinke lifebelt

The Wisconsin State Journal of April 5^th, 1998, mentioned another Titanic lifebelt. It was bought for a dollar in an estate sale ten years earlier by Michele Weinke, who then wrote to museums wanting to sell or donate the belt. But it was deemed a hoax; it was felt that there would be no lifebelt off Titanic in the United States, let alone Wisconsin. Weinke took it to a home show where antiques were being appraised. Here it was said to be $150 to $175 USD in worth. The next day the appraiser said in a radio interview that the lifebelt could be worth $25,000 with the then current high interest in the Titanic.

They tried to find out how the old cork and canvas lifebelt came to Wisconsin. Delving through old newspapers they found that several Titanic passengers came from the Wisconsin area. It was theorized that one of the bodies was sent home still wearing its lifebelt.

Taking a look at the lifebelt, it is dated May 20^th, 1910. It is a lifebelt to be worn around the waist, and the name "WHITE STAR LINE" and "TITANIC" were written on it instead of stamped. But as we have seen earlier, Titanic lifebelts did not carry the ship's name, and it is the wrong style.

It certainly is a real 1910’s lifebelt, just not from Titanic. 

Four other lifebelts

In 2016 a lifebelt appeared that had the following purported provenance: A New York dockworker saved a  Titanic lifebelt from being discarded and kept it in his possession.  Later it was auctioned off by a New York auction house in the 1980s. The buyer kept it his entire life and left it to its current owner in his will. It went on display in Southampton's SeaCity Museum. In 2017 another appeared. Remarkably, a third then surfaced and was displayed in Chelmsford, and later images of a fourth were posted online.  Each of these four showed unique characteristics and variations from the others and were atypical from known Titanic lifebelts in ways sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle. After examining these lifebelts they are believed to be clever replicas.