Sinking of the Titanic

With the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic there been lots of coverage on the television recently, along with the release of the James Cameron film in 3D next week. For anybody who saw the new ITV television series this Sunday they would have seen the references to all of the jewellery on board the ship.

This of course was something that also featured in the original titanic film by James Cameron with the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond necklace, a heart shaped blue diamond necklace based on the Hope Diamond – which was never actually on the Titanic.

Since the release of the original film in 1997 many jewelers have made replicas of the “Heart of the Ocean”. The actual necklace used during filming held a blue cubic zirconia set in white gold. The necklace cost approximately $10,000 and now resides in the Twentieth Century Fox’s archives.

Fox also commission Jeweller’s Asprey & Garrard to make a real “heart of the Ocean necklace using the original design, made in platinum with a 170-carat (34 g) heart-shaped Ceylon sapphire surrounded by a row of 65 round diamonds, totaling 36 carats (7.2 g), which was valued at $3.5 million. Celine Dion wore it at the Oscar ceremony as she sang ‘My Heart Will Go On’, It was later sold at a benefit auction for $2.2 million.

The actress Gloria Stuart, who played Rose as an older woman in the 1997 film, wore a ‘Heart of the Ocean’ blue diamond necklace created by Jeweller Harry Winston, which was worth $20 million.

There are many myths that there were lots of valuable possessions on board the titanic when it sank however it is now the belief that in fact the cargo was all quite mundane, and that there was no gold, diamonds or other precious items found.