A similar photo of the Titanic sold in 1998 for £1,840

A rare photograph of the Titanic which was bought for £20 at a country auction, is set to fetch hundreds when it is auctioned again this week.

The black and white photograph,which is mounted in a glazed oak frame, was taken shortly before the Belfast-built Titanic sank - with the loss of more than 1,500 lives - on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

In May 1912, just days after the tragedy, bookseller Gertrude Pratt put the photograph up for sale at her store in Southampton.

This is confirmed on the back of the photograph, which is stamped "G.A.Pratt,Bookseller-Stationer,Oxford Street,Southampton 7 May, 1912."

Now, more than one hundred years later, the Titanic photograph is up for sale again, but this time it is expected to fetch between £200 and £300 when it is auctioned at Reeman Dansie in Colchester, Essex on Wednesday.

However, these could turn out to be cautious pre-sale estimates.

When "a comparable" photograph of the Titanic came up for sale at Christie's in London on November 5,1998, it sold for £1,840.

Belfast Telegraph