I'm right here Dave!
Bull was indeed not part of the crew and there is NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE at all to show the man was ever on the ship let alone "the last man to leave her". And, BTW, since Bull was said to have worked for WSL in Southampton, we have to ask ourselves, "What was it about the Titanic that made this man trot down the gangway loaded to the teeth with everything from dinner plates, to bon bon dishes, to bud vases, etc?" Did he know in adbvance the ship was going to sink? Why did this guy not take a similiar quantity of items off of say, the Olympic? Or, ANY other WSL ship???? In my opinion, the items said to have been taken off of Titanic by "Mr. Bull" are complete rubbish and a total fabrication. As for the current replica dish offered by Price from the original dies used to fabricate the ones they supplied for Titanic, I have had someone contact Price and ask them if they have any paper trail showing any order for products from either White Star Line or Stoniers of Liverpool. My source tells me there are no such papers to be found. Furthermore, we have not seen any silverplate item made by Price in Titanic's debris feild, nor have I, or any other collector I know, ever seen a silverplate item made by Price for ANY WSL vessel. As for the mention on Prices' site that the dish they have recreated would have been available on board for purchase by passengers as a momento of the voyage, well... that does not seem quite right either. The only momentos of the voyage were located for sale in the barber shop of Titanic and all of those were not of the quality of the Price item. In fact, although many souvenir metallic items sold in WSL barber shops appear to be silver plated, this is not so. It is not a pure silver plate but is in fact an inferior and cheaper nickle/silver electroplate. Items made for Price would have been TOO GOOD for this purpose. Here is what I think has happened. I think someone mislead Price into thinking they had created wares for Titanic by showing them an authentic period Price made silver item engraved with the word "Titanic" or "Titanic: A la Carte" or whatever, (perhaps a bud vase or similiar object), and produced the "Bull Story", (which is all it really is), about the guy taking items off Titanic , and "Voilla!", suddenly there are replicas to be sold and money to be made! I do not think the Price Co. has done anything wrong intentionally; rather, I think they were tripped up by a person who may have had an alterior motive which involved perhaps having Price go on the record as saying they made items for Titanic so that one or more of this persons alleged "artifacts" could suddenly become "authenticated" by the original maker. Just my opinion, but a very well researched and informed one at that. Regards, Steve Santini.
