How much did the diamond in the Titanic cost?

Smart Hollywood screenwriters are good at making inanimate things full-fledged characters in a story. Subsequently, the viewer invariably evokes associations with these objects with the film in which they appeared. For example, what movie does a glove with long iron claw blades bring to mind? “Wolverine”, of course! Well, or A Nightmare on Elm Street, depending on the length of the blades. Gold ring with luminous script? “The Lord of the Rings”, of course. The red and blue pills are from The Matrix and so on. How about a pendant with a blue stone cut into a heart shape and surrounded by diamonds? Yes, that’s right – this is the blue diamond “Heart of the Ocean” from the touching story about the love of the young aristocrat Rose and the poor artist Jack, which broke out on board the doomed Titanic. What is true in this story and what is fiction? Does the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond really exist or is it a figment of the imagination of the authors of the picture? And if the jewel is not made up, then where is the “Heart of the Ocean” now – a diamond that witnessed one of the most tragic events of the beginning of the last century? Read the true story of the Heart of the Ocean diamond. And at the very end of the article, you will learn how to become the owner of a jewelry completely identical to Rose’s necklace, given to her by her fiance on the Titanic.

Price issue

Let’s start with money. In our pragmatic times, many are interested in how much the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond cost, and how much it could cost now. Blue diamonds are some of the rarest in the world and are only mined at the Cullinan mine in South Africa. The market value of a natural diamond of this fancy color ranges from $150 to $000 per carat. According to experts, the real stone that adorned Rose’s neck on the Titanic would weigh about 350 carats – 70 grams! For comparison, the construction of the Titanic itself cost the owners $7,3 million. Now, taking into account inflation, this is approximately $200 million. This means that if the Heart of the Ocean diamond really existed, the price of the original would be comparable to the cost of building the Titanic itself. liner, which, for a minute, was the most luxurious for its time!

Reality and fantasy

James Cameron, whose star burned so brightly just after the release of Titanic, was very meticulous about details. According to rumors, before taking on the script, he dived to the sunken liner several times so as not to miss a single nuance. And the appearance of the “blue diamond of the crown” in the first scenes of the film should have alerted the attentive viewer and prepared him for the fact that the story would end tragically.

Diamond Hope

Fig 2. Diamond Hope

The most famous large blue diamond, which is said to have become the prototype of the “Heart of the Ocean”, is an Indian diamond given to Louis XIV by the traveler Jean Tavernier. Legend has it that the roughly cut, 115-carat triangular stone originally served as decoration for a statue of an Indian deity for four centuries. During religious rituals, he was sprinkled with the blood of victims, and after being stolen from the temple, he was cursed. The French king considered the diamond not perfect enough, and on his order the stone was split into several pieces. The fragment, weighing 69 carats, adorned the royal personage (Louis XIV wore the stone set in gold as a pendant, and his successor as a pendant for the order) and called the “blue Frenchman”, and became the prototype of the “Heart of the Ocean”. They say that the curse punished both Louis and the jeweler-donor – both died. True, historians recall with a grin that at the time of his death Tavernier was 83 years old, and Louis was 78. A very respectable age to retire from old age. The next owner of the “French” was Marie Antoinette. And, of course, all the misfortunes that befell her are attributed not to the extravagance and short-sightedness of the royal family, but to the “cursed diamond.” Then, for half a century, the trace of the blue diamond of the French crown is lost, and is only found in the 30s of the 45th century – now the stone is part of the collection of the English banker Henry Hope. Hope recut the stone, reducing its weight to XNUMX carats, and inserted it into a necklace. After the death of the banker, the diamond was sold to the Turkish ruler, and then fell into the hands of the legendary Pierre Cartier. It was the latter that gave it the shape of a heart. Then the Hope diamond (the banker gave it a family name) changed several owners and owners, after which it became part of the exhibition of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

The fate of the “film diamond”

By the way, the gold necklace of actress Kate Winslate did not contain a diamond at all, but tanzanite framed with zirconium. The prop necklace, made by jewelers Asprey & Garrad, cost the studio approximately $10. After the success of the film, the first luxury replicas appeared. The first one was worn by Celine Dion at the Oscars. It was made from a huge sapphire weighing 000 carats, surrounded by 171 diamonds. The second one appeared at the same ceremony. A piece of jewelry with a real 103-carat blue diamond was spotted on the neck of Gloria Stewart, who played the role of elderly Rose in the film.

Romantic decoration for romantic ladies

Fig 3. Pendant with diamond Heart of the Ocean to order

The necklace and the lyrical story of Rose and Jack so impressed the audience that many of them rushed to order or buy replicas of “Heart of the Ocean.” Only $160 million worth of jewelry similar to Rose’s jewel has been sold in the world. And if you, too, while watching Titanic, at least once mentally tried on Rose’s necklace, then now you have the opportunity to do it in reality. Our company’s jewelers will carefully and with great attention to detail make for you an exact copy of the “Heart of the Ocean” pendant, indistinguishable from the real thing. You can order it in the “Custom Diamond Pendants” section. And let this magnificent jewel mark for you the beginning of your own romantic story, which is sure to be happy. In 1997, American director James Cameron gave the world the amazing film Titanic. This is an incredible story of a touching love between two young people, which takes place against the backdrop of one of the most horrific disasters of the last century.

Necklace Heart of the Ocean: story from the film and reality

Let’s start with the main characters, whose love story was directly related to the golden necklace. The girl Rose from a noble family goes on a journey with her fiancé Caledon and mother Ruth. Already on the ship she meets a young artist named Jack. He shouldn’t have been on the ship because he couldn’t afford a ticket. But literally on the day of departure, he wins a ticket from a potential passenger. Feelings immediately flare up between the young people, which makes Caledon very unhappy. In order to somehow return Rose’s interest and show her that he can provide for both his future wife and her mother, he gives the girl the Heart of the Ocean necklace.

Possible prototypes of a luxury diamond

• Hope diamond (or Hope diamond);
• blue diamond with unknown history.

Diamond Hope is the most likely prototype of the Heart of the Ocean

This stone has a long and even tragic history. It was presented to the King of France by the famous jeweler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. It is believed that the stone originally adorned a statue of a Hindu deity. The royal family kept the diamond until the end of the 1830th century, and then disappeared. In the XNUMXs, a similar stone, but smaller in size, was acquired by a British man named Hope. From the family of this Englishman, the diamond came to the Turkish Sultan, then Pierre Cartier bought it and created a luxurious necklace based on it. In the form of a finished product, the stone managed to be the property of several other people, and is now in the Smithsonian Institution.

This piece of jewelry is similar in color and size to the Heart of the Ocean necklace, but the shapes of the diamonds are different. Why can’t the Hope Diamond be a real diamond from the real Titanic? At the moment, historians have already proven that the Hope Diamond at the time of the tragedy belonged to Evelyn McLean, who bought it in 1911. The diamond is often called cursed, so this was one of the reasons for its sale.

Mughal Blue Diamond

The second theory has fewer fans, especially among historians, but also has a right to exist. It is believed that the prototype could have been the pendants of the Mughal emperors Akbar and Jahangir. The history of this decoration is even more confusing and mysterious. This is a large stone that resembles a heart. It was last seen and then sold at a British auction at the end of the 20th century.

It was a 13,75 carat blue diamond. It was sold for 7 million and 791 thousand US dollars. Now the owner and whereabouts of the gem are unknown.

Modern copies of the Heart of the Ocean necklace

Some jewelers, looking at the photo of the Heart of the Ocean necklace, had a great desire to make a copy. And today there are quite a lot of such replicas. The official copies are those produced by the J. Peterman Company – they cost about $200, and after the bankruptcy of the company, the price doubled. The most famous replica is considered to be the model created by Harry Winston. It features a 2 carat diamond.

It was this necklace that Gloria Stewart wore to the Academy Awards when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. In the film she played the elderly Rose. It is interesting that the actress, like her character, lived to be 100 years old, and was born two years before the shipwreck.

The heart of the ocean is a necklace with a unique history. It was able to go far beyond the plot of the film and become an independent decoration. If you want to find the original Heart of the Ocean necklace, you will have to turn to private collections. By the way, during the filming they used 3 necklaces, not just one. And they were made of different materials (platinum and white gold), and the role of the blue diamond was “played” by cubic zirconia and sapphire. Two of the three necklaces are now in the possession of private collectors, and the third disappeared after the bankruptcy of the J. Peterman Company – the company paid them off for its debts.