A LETTER written by the Titanic bandmaster Wallace Hartley has dropped slightly in value – just 12 months after the centenary of the liner’s sinking.

Hartley, 33, who grew up in Colne, penned a letter to his parents Albion and Elizabeth shortly before boarding the White Star vessel. In the note he writes: “We have a fine band & the boys seem very nice” and also remarks how they had departed without a problem.

When the letter was first put up for auction in April 2012 by the RR auction house in New Hampshire, it fetched $186,000, or £95,000.

It was sold again by the Wiltshire-based salesroom Henry Aldridge over the weekend – but this time only raised £93,000.

The same auctioneers also hold the controversial ‘Hartley violin’, said to have been recovered from the bandsman following his death.