LONDON -- LONDON (AP) — It's a poignant scene familiar to anyone who has watched "Titanic" — as the doomed ship slides into the icy waters, musicians perform one last time for the passengers, playing with stoic resolve until the final hour.


None of the musicians survived in the 1912 disaster in the North Atlantic, but a violin believed to be the one played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley will now go on auction.


"It is just a remarkable piece of history," said Andrew Aldridge, of auctioneer Henry Aldridge and Son. "I have been an auctioneer for 20 years, but I have never seen an item that brings out this degree of emotion in people before."


The violin, with Hartley's name on it, is believed to have been found at sea with the musician's body more than a week after the Titanic sank.


The auction house, which specializes in Titanic memorabilia, expects the violin to fetch more than 200,000 pounds (US$323,300) when it goes on sale in southern England's Wiltshire on Saturday.


Hartley and his seven fellow band members were among the 1,517 people aboard the Titanic who died after it hit an iceberg. According to some accounts, the band played the hymn "Nearer, My God, To Thee" to keep spirits up as the passengers boarded lifeboats in the early hours of April 15, 1912.


The musicians have been hailed as heroes for sacrificing their chances of escape.


"Mr. Hartley and the band were very brave people ... standing by their posts to the bitter end," Aldridge said.


The auction house said the violin has been subject to numerous tests to check its authenticity since it was discovered in 2006. It said earlier this year that the violin was Hartley's "beyond reasonable doubt."



The violin, of German make, was a gift from Hartley's fiancee Maria Robinson, and was engraved with the words "For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria." It can no longer be played, Aldridge said.


___


Sylvia Hui can be reached at http://Twitter.com/sylviahui





Loading Slideshow...



  • Auctioneer Alan Aldridge of auctioneers Henry Aldridge & son holds the violin of Wallace Hartley, the instrument he played as the band leader of the Titanic, on the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the ship, April 15, 2013 in Devizes, England. The auction house, which specializes in Titanic memorabilia and is having an associated sale on Saturday, spent seven years proving the violin was genuine and belonged to Wallace Hartley, who with his orchestra, famously played on as the ship sank in April 1912, and were among the 1,500 who died. Long thought to have been either lost at sea or stolen, it is being described, as far as Titanic memorabilia goes, as one the most important pieces that has ever come up for sale. Thought to be worth a six-figure sum, it is the property of an unidentified individual in Lancashire. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)




  • Auctioneer Alan Aldridge of auctioneers Henry Aldridge & son holds the violin of Wallace Hartley, the instrument he played as the band leader of the Titanic, on the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the ship, April 15, 2013 in Devizes, England. The auction house, which specializes in Titanic memorabilia and is having an associated sale on Saturday, spent seven years proving the violin was genuine and belonged to Wallace Hartley, who with his orchestra, famously played on as the ship sank in April 1912, and were among the 1,500 who died. Long thought to have been either lost at sea or stolen, it is being described, as far as Titanic memorabilia goes, as one the most important pieces that has ever come up for sale. Thought to be worth a six-figure sum, it is the property of an unidentified individual in Lancashire. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)




  • Sean Madden, of Fine Art Conservation holds the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during Titanic's tragic maiden voyage, during a photocall for the media in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The violin will go on display to the public at the Titanic Belfast exhibition on Wednesday. The instrument, which was discovered in an attic in North Yorkshire, England in 2006, and was earlier this year verified as that which second-class passenger Wallace Hartley played on Titanic's fateful night of April 14th, 1912. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)




  • Sean Madden, of Fine Art Conservation works to show the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during Titanic's tragic maiden voyage, during a photocall to the media in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The violin will go on display to the public at Titanic Belfast on Wednesday. The instrument, which was discovered in an attic in North Yorkshire, England in 2006, and was earlier this year verified as that which second-class passenger Wallace Hartley played on Titanic's fateful night of April 14th, 1912. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)




  • A detail from the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during Titanic's tragic maiden voyage, during a photocall to the media in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The violin will go on display to the public at Titanic Belfast on Wednesday. The instrument, which was discovered in an attic in North Yorkshire, England in 2006, and was earlier this year verified as that which second-class passenger Wallace Hartley played on Titanic's fateful night of April 14th, 1912. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)




  • Sean Madden, of Fine Art Conservation inspects the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley during Titanic's tragic maiden voyage, during a photocall to the media in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The violin will go on display to the public at Titanic Belfast on Wednesday. The instrument, which was discovered in an attic in North Yorkshire, England in 2006, and was earlier this year verified as that which second-class passenger Wallace Hartley played on Titanic's fateful night of April 14th, 1912. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)




  • In this undated photo provided by Henry Aldridge on Friday, March 15, 2013 shows the violin that was played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank, Devizes, England. Survivors of the Titanic have said they remember the band, led by Wallace Hartley, playing on deck even as passengers boarded lifeboats after the ship hit an iceberg. Hartley’s violin was believed lost in the 1912 disaster, but auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say an instrument unearthed in 2006 has undergone rigorous testing and proven to be Hartley’s. The auction house said has spent the past seven years and thousands of pounds determining the water-stained violin’s origins, consulting numerous experts including government forensic scientists and Oxford University. (AP Photo/Henry Aldridge)