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The auctioneer who facilitated the sale said the letter had attracted the highest price of any correspondence written onboard the Titanic.

After being stored for more than 30 years in a loft, the sleeve is going under the hammer at auctioneers, Wessex Auction Rooms, in Wiltshire.

These should have been safely in Scotland's archives, not being offloaded to the highest bidder via a bang of the auctioneer's gavel.

She said it "passed through the hands of experts, conservators, auctioneers, dealers, and collectors from London to Toronto".

Despite the auctioneer lowering the starting bid to just 50p, nobody bid and the item was unsold.