First Class Luncheon Menu
Why First Class Luncheon Menu matters
"First Class Luncheon Menu" appears in the Masterworks internal worklist as a name to be researched, but no primary source located in this review treats it as the name of an individual visual artist. Every credible reference, from Christie's cataloguing to reporting in Time and Artnet News, identifies the phrase as the title of a specific historical object: a first class luncheon menu from the R.M.S. Titanic, dated 14 April 1912. Titanic first class menus in this broader category have publicly reported auction results, though this profile could not independently confirm a price or sale date for the exact Christie's-catalogued lot bearing this title. This profile records what is actually confirmed, so collectors searching this name understand they are looking at a piece of maritime ephemera rather than an artist's market.
By the numbers
- Not independently confirmedAuction high (object)Reported sales of Titanic first class menus range from roughly USD 88,000 to USD 120,000 across different lots and dates; see Market section
- Documented Titanic menu artifactEntity typeNo confirmed individual artist by this name in primary sources
- No. 2,120Worklist rank
Biography
No birth date, death date, nationality, gender, education, or gallery representation could be confirmed for a person named First Class Luncheon Menu, because no such person is documented in the sources reviewed. The phrase consistently refers to a printed menu artifact from the Titanic's first class dining saloon, associated with passenger Abraham Lincoln Salomon, who is reported to have saved the menu after the sinking, and bearing a note connected to fellow passenger Isaac Gerald Frauenthal. Neither Salomon nor Frauenthal is described in these sources as the menu's artist or designer, and no design credit is given in the auction cataloguing reviewed. Because the underlying identity is an artifact rather than a person, a living or deceased status cannot be determined and is left unconfirmed here rather than guessed.
Critical reception
No art critic, museum curator, or major art publication reviewed in this research addresses First Class Luncheon Menu as an artist or a body of artistic work. The available commentary is auction and lifestyle journalism describing the menu itself as a historical document rather than a work of art criticism. No exact, attributable critical quotes about an artist by this name exist to cite.
Market
No confirmed sale price or date could be verified for the exact Christie's lot titled "First Class Luncheon Menu, R.M.S. Titanic, 14 April 1912." Other Titanic first class menus, from different dates and meals, have publicly reported auction results of roughly USD 88,000 to USD 120,000, per Time, Artnet News, and Robb Report, at houses including Guernsey's, Lion Heart Autographs, and Henry Aldridge and Son. Reporting across these sources gives inconsistent sale dates and attributions for some of these figures, so no single result is presented here as a confirmed headline record for this specific title.
What collectors should know
Collectors encountering this name should understand it identifies a piece of Titanic era printed ephemera, not a fine artist with a gallery track record, museum collection history, or catalogue raisonne. Value in this category is driven by provenance, condition, rarity of the specific date and meal, and documented passenger association, rather than by the market mechanics that typically apply to a working artist's catalogue. The absence of representation, museum holdings, or awards in this profile reflects that reality rather than a gap in research.
Further reading and resources
Data current as of 2026-07-11.
