One thing I enjoy about the research process is learning about some forgotten moments in history. From a local estate, I bought a small piece of wood simply marked, "Wood from the sunken ship Andrea Doria." While intriguing, this didn't mean anything to me. Turns out, the Italian Line's SS Andrea Doria sunk off the coast of Nantucket on 25 July 1956, after colliding with another ship. 52 people died, a terrible maritime tragedy. The item, a simple piece of wood, perhaps collected by artifact hunters shortly after the accident, sold for $57 on eBay. Who buys these items? Are they people who lost loved ones in the incident? Maybe they see it as a small reminder of another time. Without the hand-written note, it's just a piece of wood, but to someone else it's quite significant.
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