DALLAS, TX.- A pair of paintings by an artist who was aboard a ship that tried to rescue survivors from the Titanic sold for $112,500, and a typewriter that belonged to one of the most popular and successful authors reached $106,250 to lead Heritage Auctions’ Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction to $1,926,019 Feb. 22.

A Set of Two Colin Campbell Cooper Paintings Created While Onboard the Carpathia During the Rescue of Titanic Survivors is by the artist who, along with his wife Emma, left New York aboard the RMS Carpathia, headed for Flume Austria-Hungary. In the early morning of April 15, 1912, the Carpathia received a signal indicating that Titanic had struck an iceberg and was in need of assistance. The Carpathia changed course to offer assistance, arriving two hours after the Titanic sunk. As crew from the Carpathia rescued survivors from the frigid Atlantic, Cooper watched from the deck, where he created these paintings depicting the rescue efforts and the site of the Titanic’s disappearance.

The love-hate relationship Mark Twain (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) had with typewriters is well-documented, but his Personally Owned Williams No. 6 Typewriter more than quadrupled its pre-auction estimate when it climbed to $106,250. Toward the end of his life, Twain purchased this beautiful and impeccably provenanced typewriter, which he owned from 1908 until his death in 1910.

“The significance of these lots can not be overstated,” says Sandra Palomino, Director of Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions. “Colin Campbell Cooper was a renowned American Impressionist painter from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his paintings capture a somber representation of historically important event, the sinking of the largest and most luxurious ship of its time.

“The soaring demand for Mark Twain’s typewriter is more than understandable. He was one of the most beloved of all American authors, and the idea that he wrote on this typewriter clearly explains why many pursued it so aggressively.”

Aggressive bidding drove a Martin Luther King Jr. Inscribed and Signed Copy of Ebony Magazine to $93,750. From the May 1965 issue covering the historic Selma-to-Montgomery marches in Alabama, the front wrapper is inscribed and signed in blue ballpoint pen by King: “To my Friend / Claude Wyatt / With Warm Personal Regards / Martin Luther King Jr.” Rev. Claude S. Wyatt Jr. and his wife Rev. Addie L. Wyatt were prominent civil rights activists who founded Chicago’s Vernon Park Church of God in 1956 and were closely affiliated with King until his 1968 assassination, and marched with him at the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. Five months later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law.
One of the most important military addresses of the Civil War, Confederate Colonel John S. Mosby’s Farewell Address to His Rangers closed at $40,000. Then a colonel of the 43rd Virginia Cavalry, popularly known as “Mosby’s Rangers,” Mosby issued his famous farewell order to his cavalrymen in the closing days of the Civil War. The April 9, 1865 surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox meant the end for Mosby’s Rangers. Rather than surrender his command to the Union, Mosby chose to formally disband the regiment.

Other top lots included, but were not limited to:

• A Civil War Archive of Medal of Honor Recipient General Frederick W. Swift, 17th Michigan Infantry Regiment: $35,000

• A George Washington Letter Signed: $33,750

• An Albert Einstein Typed Letter Signed: $24,375

• Passenger Laura Marie Cribb’s Handwritten Account of the RMS Titanic Disaster: $22,500

• An Abraham Lincoln Signed Check: $19,375