A violin owned by the Titanic’s heroic bandsman Wallace Hartley fetched £900,000 at auction at the weekend.

The bandsman reputedly played the violin on board the ill-fated passenger liner.

It was expected to sell for around £300,000 when it was listed for sale at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes.

But its sale beat all expectations to become the most costly Titanic memorabilia ever sold.

Auctioneer Alan Aldridge said that with the buyer’s premium and VAT, the price would top £1 million, which he did not think would be broken.

“The record for an individual item was £220,000 and we once sold a collection for £400,000,” he said.

“I don’t think this price will ever be beaten. The violin was the most iconic item we have seen and there were some very, very wealthy people bidding.”

Mr Aldridge said there had been some strong bidding from both British and US collectors but would not reveal who had won.

“It was an anonymous bidder,” he said.

Peter Boyd-Smith, a Titanic historian and seller of the ship’s memorabilia, said he believed the violin had been bought by a British collector.

“I have been to many, many auctions but I have never seen one like this,” he said.

“Nine hundred thousand pounds for a violin? Absolutely incredible. It’s staying in the UK and I think it is a private collector.

“It’s a world record for a Titanic artefact. The only other items that are probably worth that kind of money are the items salvaged from RMS Titanic if they are ever put up for sale and those are in the exhibitions that go around America and Europe.

“It may never get beaten.”

Hartley lived in Huddersfield and later moved to a large Victorian terraced house in West Park Street, Dewsbury.

A blue plaque marks the house which is still lived in today.

More than 600 visitors to Dewsbury Town Hall saw the violin last week when it toured the country before Saturday’s sale.

Around 200 people packed out the Henry Aldridge and Son sale room in the hope of capturing a piece of history.

There was tension in the room as principal auctioneer Alan Aldridge started the bidding at just £50.

There were laughs from the audience but Mr Aldridge revealed that he was starting it that low so that two of his friends could claim they bid on the violin before it broke records.

Within a couple of minutes bidding had broken £100,000.

The violin eventually sold for£900,000 after fierce bidding between two telephone bidders. Selling the violin had taken just 10 minutes.

Hartley was member of Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra and a local resident.

The German violin was an engagement gift from his fiance Maria.

He famously led the eight-member band as the ship sank on April 14, 1912 and the violin was found strapped to the bandsman when his body was pulled from the sea after the ship sank.

The violin’s re-emergence in 2006, when it was reportedly discovered in an attic in Yorkshire, prompted heated debate over its authenticity.

Titanic specialist auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son insist nearly seven subsequent years of research and tests have proved it to be the genuine article.