Violin seen on Titanic could sell for €70,000 at auction

A violin played on screen in James Cameron's Titanic could fetch nearly €70,000 at an upcoming auction.

The instrument was used in the film to perform 'Nearer My God To Thee' by bandmaster Wallace Hartley as the White Star ocean liner sank.

Wallace Hartley, and the seven band members he led, were some of the 1,500 people who were tragically killed when the ship hit an iceberg in 1912.

Hartley was portrayed by actor and violinist Jonathan Evans-Jones, who kept the violin until 2013, when he sold it at auction to a private collector.

On April 26, it will return to the auction floor at Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, where it is expected to be sold for between £40,000 (€46,400) and £60,000 (€69,600). It will be up for sale alongside a range of other Titanic and White Star-related memorabilia.

In 2013, the violin that was played by Hartley during the 1912 sinking was sold from the same auction house for £1.1 million (€1.27 million).

Titanic released in 1997, becoming the highest grossing film of all time. It held that title for nearly 12 years, until another of Cameron's projects, Avatar, surpassed it.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, the film depicts the maiden voyage and sinking of White Star Line's Titanic through a story of romance between the two lead characters.