Titanic 100th anniversary: 5,000 artefacts to be auctioned Artefacts include a 17-ton section of the Titanic's hull, as well as personal belongings of passengers and crew, such as a mesh purse and eyeglasses. A bronze cherub that once adorned the Grand Staircase is among the collection, as are fine china, table settings and ship fittings - even the stand upon which the ship's wheel stood. The planned sale could include a trove of archaeological data and visuals of the wreck, as well as the only detailed map of the vast ocean floor where all the artefacts were scattered after the Titanic's sinking. By court order, the items cannot be sold individually and must go to a buyer who agrees to properly maintain the collection and make it available for occasional public viewing. The sale is subject to court approval. The Titanic's sinking claimed the lives of more than 1,500 of the 2,228 passengers and crew. An international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard located the wreckage in 1985 about 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada. The research materials could be a road map to future salvage expeditions because of the new information they provide on the wreck site. "We are opening the door of opportunity for the future of the Titanic," said Brian Wainger, a spokesman for Premier Exhibitions Inc., of which RMS Titanic is a division. The clock is ticking on thousands of additional artefacts embedded in the ocean floor around the wreck, an area subject to a century of extreme ocean conditions such as cold temperatures and treacherous currents. "I think it's fair to say that we have only touched the surface," Mr Wainger said. The deteriorating hulk of the Titanic is off limits to salvage. Premier Exhibitions has been displaying the Titanic artefacts in exhibitions worldwide. The items were recovered from the shipwreck in expeditions in 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004. RMS Titanic, which has overseen the artefacts for 18 years, said the public company decided to auction the collection in response to shareholders' wishes that the "company go out and make money." "It's better to be in the hands of a private institution that doesn't have the same short-term profit obligations that a public company has," he said.