Titanic pieces to return to the wreck

When explorers of the Titanic wreck found some cutlery hidden in the debris they recognised it instantly.

The knives, forks and spoons were exactly the same as ones created by Arthur Price just one year before the ship sailed.

Now the Lichfield company is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's voyage by recreating the Panel Reed cutlery that was in first class on the ship, and was quite likely used on the Captain's table.

Each knife features the famous logo of the ship owner, White Star Line, on its blade just as they were originally.

In April 1912 A Price & Co Ltd, as the company was then known, was based in a small factory at Conybere Street in Birmingham.

Arthur Price and his employees were celebrating the company's tenth anniversary with a recent commission to supply their premium quality cutlery for use on board the world's newest and most opulent ocean liner, the Titanic.

Chief executive Simon Price, who is the great-grandson of Arthur Price, says there was mystery surrounding the supplier of cutlery to the famous ship.

"Record keeping was difficult as the company moved a number of times before it came to Lichfield and so things got lost along the way," says Simon.

"When you find tools from 1911 you can't help but wonder if they were the ones used to create the cutlery for the Titanic."

Simon says he received a letter from Commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet who was a co-leader during five expeditions to research the Titanic wreck site.

The letter said: "I examined recovered silverware from Titanic that I believe are exactly the same silverware as the Dubarry and Panel Reed examples I recently examined produced by your company."

The Dubarry was recovered in 1987 from the debris field and the Panel Reed was discovered in one of the Titanic's copper dishwashers, near the stern section of the wreck in 1994.

The items can't be brought up due to salvage laws. The Dubarry cutlery has always been produced by the company due to its classical design and was used during the filming of James Cameron's Titanic film.

It is the more expensive Panel Reed cutlery which went out of style and has been reproduced as close to the originals as possible.

"They are identical and the only difference is the Panel Reed handle is now made with steel rather than nickel, as steel didn't exist 100 years ago," he says.

Arthur Price has teamed up with Royal Crown Derby, who supplied the tableware for the Titanic, for a historic auction.

Limited edition reproduction pieces will be taken 12,500 feet down inside a deep sea diving submersible to the Titanic wreck site by specialist travel company Deep Ocean Expeditions (DOE).

If conditions allow, three limited edition 44 piece canteens of Panel Reed cutlery, two Dubarry canteens and 15 Royal Derby dining plates will be taken to the depths and then returned for a sealed bid online at www.titaniccentenaryuk.com and the closing bids will be at midnight on April 16.