Measuring 18 inches wide and 11 inches tall, the sepia image captures RMS Titanic in its purpose-built berth at the White Star Line’s Southampton dock on April 9, 1912, just a day before it left Southampton on its ill-fated Atlantic crossing. Shortly before midnight on April 14, less than a week after the photo was taken, the “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg and sank, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.
In the photo, you can see crew members and workmen putting some final touches on the ship before it set sail, including painting touch-ups to its hull and window cleaning. Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son, the UK auction house selling the item, believes it to be one of the most important photos of Titanic to come up for auction. “The clarity and details are astonishing,” he told Fox News, noting that it’s “certainly the most detailed I have ever seen.” The photo was purchased at a flea market in Paris in the 1970s and has been in private hands until now.