This month sees the 99th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a ship rumoured to be 'unsinkable', and yet which sank on its maiden voyage to America on April 15th 1912. So I thought I would look at the links with the legendary ship, and jewellery.
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 necklace created for the movie.
In fact, it would seem that anything with an Edwardian theme is likely to be termed 'Titanic' Jewellery, such is the interest aroused. So you can have women's silver necklaces or pearl drop earrings labelled 'Titanic'. I guess it makes it more saleable!
The Titanic movie featured Kate Winslett as Rose DeWitt Bukater wearing "The Heart of the Ocean" - a blue diamond necklace based on the famous Hope Diamond. (However, the actual Hope diamond was never on the Titanic) This stunning necklace has captured the imaginations 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, for similar gems and necklaces.
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 an elegant 3 stone Diamond Ring 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 encrusted with 1,500 precious stones set in gold. It was lost when the ship went down.
Newspapers at the time reported that "there was known to be a small fortune in diamonds aboard the Titanic." Some reports stated that 2 brothers boarded the ocean liner and carried a shipment of diamonds from Switzerland. It is estimated the diamonds would be worth well over $300 million today. There are also rumours of family members traveling in 2nd class to avoid notice while travelling with valuable diamonds and jewels. What is known for certainty 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 jewels. One crew member told that while inspecting 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 memorabilia, including jewellery. There are charms for bracelets of the Titanic in silver or gold, for example, and my online store will be featuring these items soon. And if you really want to push the boat out, why not buy a watch made from the hull of the Titanic! Geneva-based Romain Jerome took metal from Titanic and blended it with modern shipbuilding steel. Coal which was to have been burned in the Titanic's furnaces and which was also recovered from the seabed has been mixed with ceramics to create black dials for the watches. These went on sale for £75,000! Written by Michelle Michaelis, Jewellery promoter and Titanic buff! |
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6191979
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