IT’S a parcel label which would never normally have been expected to survive more than a century or fetch a five-figure sum at auction.

But a connection with the Titanic transforms even the most humdrum items into sought-after collectibles.

In this case it’s an everyday item which has a direct connection to one of the most important figures in the tragic tale of the unsinkable liner which sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912.

The label is addressed to the Marconi operator aboard RMS Titanic is for sale at an Australian auction house where it is expected to make £12,000.

It bears the address “Marconi Operator/RMS Titanic/co The White Star Line/Southampton”.

It is likely the packet, containing White Star telegraph stationery, was handed to the first officer of Titanic’s sister-ship, the Olympic, with the intention that it would be delivered to the Titanic on its arrival New York.

The parcel was sent by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company in Chelmsford to its radio operator John George “Jack” Phillips who served as senior wireless operator on the liner’s maiden voyage.

Surrey-born Jack went down with the ship but his assistant 21-year-old Harold Bride survived the disaster.

On April 11, a day after the ship set sail, Phillips and Bride had celebrated Phillips’ 25th birthday, with pastries brought from the first class dining room.

During the voyage Phillips and Bride transmitted passengers’ personal messages and received iceberg warnings and other navigational information from other ships.

On the evening of April 14, in the wireless room on the boat deck, Phillips was sending messages to Cape Race, Newfoundland, and working to clear a backlog of passengers’ personal messages that had accumulated when the wireless had broken down.

Bride was asleep in the next-door cabin, intending to relieve Phillips at midnight, two hours early.

Shortly after 9.30pm, Phillips received an ice warning from the steamship Mesaba reporting a large number of icebergs and an ice field directly in Titanic’s path.

Phillips acknowledged the Mesaba’s warning but continued to transmit messages to Cape Race.

The Mesaba’s wireless operator waited for Phillips to report that he had given the report to the bridge, but Phillips continued sending messages to Cape Race.

The vital Mesaba message was never delivered to the bridge.

As the Titanic was sinking, Phillips worked tirelessly to send distress messages to other ships in the vicinity.

It is believed that the label has been with the family to whom it was given in 1912 by the First Officer of the Olympic.

It will be offered with a piece of unused headed notepaper with embossed ‘On board RMS Oceanic’, plus two small original photographs, one captioned “Wireless/Apparatus” & the other “Alec Bagot/Marconi Operator/on RMS Olympic”.

The label is part of Stamps & Postal History auction at Mossgreen Auctions in Melbourne, Australia. November 29-30.

Last month a postcard sent by Jack sold for £19,000 at a Titanic auction in Devizes.

The card, signed “Love all, Jack”, describes the weather as the ship left Cowes on the Isle of Wight.