Homeless Dallas Man selling Titanic Plate

[TexasStooge]

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - A homeless Dallas man is selling a plate from the Titanic on the Internet auction site eBay.

Asking price? Starting at $49,995.

Jay Sherman's plate, which he inherited from a from a great-aunt, has been authenticated by a Czech factory. It was made exclusively for the doomed cruise ship Titanic, and may be the only one like it to survive.

The giant White Star liner sank in the North Atlantic in 1912 after striking an iceberg on its maiden voyage. About 15,000 passengers and crew died. Sherman said his great-aunt was a survivor of the great British cruise ship and took the small plate with her.

As of Friday morning, more than 2,600 people had visited the Web site, but no bids had been posted.

Kathy Wilson of Door to Door Auctions, which is handling the sale, says she expects bidding to pick up as collectors satisfy themselves to the plate's authenticity.

"Often, the most serious bidding takes place in the last two hours of an auction," she said.