This month sees the 99th Anniversary of the sinking on the Titanic, a ship stated to generally be ‘unsinkable’, nevertheless which went under on its first voyage to America on 15th April 1912. So I thought I would look at the links with the legendary ship, and Jewellery gifts. The blockbuster movie ‘Titanic’ is one of the main sources of the legend of ‘The Heart of the Ocean’, but in actual fact no such jewel existed.
However, the story of Jack and Rose was to act as a spur to the imagination, and it is now easy to find designs based on the necklaces for women created for the movie. In actual fact, it seems apparant that nearly anything with the Edwardian design might be labelled ‘Titanic’ Jewellery, such would be the fascination aroused. So you’re able to have women’s silver necklaces or pearl drop earrings branded ‘Titanic’. Perhaps it makes it a lot more saleable!
The Titanic film featured Kate Winslett as Rose DeWitt Bukater dressed in “The Heart of the Ocean” – a blue diamond necklace based on the famous Hope Diamond. (Nonetheless, this Hope diamond wasn’t on the Titanic) This amazing diamond necklace has caught the creativeness of romantics everywhere. Jewellers Asprey & Garrard were inspired to make a real Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace, and the result was a 170 carat heart shaped sapphire with 65 diamonds, each consisting of 30 carats. Celine Dion wore it at the Oscar ceremony as she sang “My Heart Will Go On” – the theme song from Titanic. It was later sold at a benefit auction for $2.2 million. Jeweller Harry Winston also created a “Heart of the Ocean” blue diamond necklace. The $20 million necklace was worn by Gloria Stuart, who portrayed Rose as an older woman.
Most ‘Heart of the Ocean’ jewellery nowadays is made from sapphires, for the expensive examples, to cheaper crystal for just as nice jewellery! Sometimes they are set with Swarovski or Austrian sparkling diamante crystals. From Thailand comes ‘natural diamonds’, or other gems include ‘Kashmir Kyanite’. You can take a look at my website, and gold heart pendantsfor similar gems and silver necklaces for women. Real jewellery however was found by divers on the site of the wreck. Amongst the artifacts recovered from underwater expeditions to the Titanic are 2 rings – one with 60 diamonds and an exquisite Sapphire and Diamond ring. Other treasures include elegant 3 stone white gold rings and poignantly, a bracelet with the name “Amy” spelled out in gemstones. One of the treasures known to be onboard was a priceless copy of the Rubyiat of Omar Khayiam. This book of poetry was set with 1,500 gemstones placed in gold. It had been lost once the vessel was lost.
Papers at that time noted that “there was considered to be a lot of money in precious gems on-board the Titanic.” A few stories reported that 2 brothers boarded the ocean ship and took a delivery of expensive diamonds from Switzerland. It’s projected the diamonds could well be worth more than $300 million nowadays. There’s also whispers of family members travelling in 2nd class to avoid notice while travelling with valuable diamonds and jewels. What is known for certain is that many of the passengers were wealthy and many did travel with gold and jewels. The Mackay-Bennett, a search ship, recorded some instances of diamonds and gems. One crew member told that while examining pockets of one man, a diamond agent, “twelve uncut diamonds rolled out in every direction upon the littered deck.” As 2012 is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking, look out for collectibles, including jewellery. One can find gold charms for braceletsof the Titanic in silver or gold, for example. www.myjewellerystore.co.uk will be featuring these items soon.