A ticket stub from the launch of the Titanic is expected to fetch over $5,000 at a Dublin auction.

The ticket to the lavish ceremony to launch the Titanic in Belfast is much sought after by collectors.

Thousands turned up at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast to witness the launch of the Titanic in May, 2011.

The ticket stub is for VIP entrance to the ceremony, almost a year before the ship floundered.

The stub is part of the auction of the contents of a house in the north Dublin seaside town of Howth.

Titanic enthusiast Hugh Wilkinson, the son of the original owner of the house, was given the ticket by a friend of his father.

The perforated admission stub (No 461) for the launch on May 31, 1911, entitled the bearer to a premium seat for the launch ceremony.

“My father had his own small maritime museum in one room of the house,” said Wilkinson.

“He had some interesting items, many of which are in the auction. I got my interest in the Titanic from his interest in maritime objects.”