Hollywood Jewels: The Heart of the Ocean

I feel terrible about being MIA for weeks, but my life has been out of control lately! Right before the holidays, I got into a car accident that left me car-less for a few weeks (and left me begging relying on my friends for rides to and from work), and as soon as I got my car back, I got the flu. Needless to say, it has not been fun, and I am so happy to be able to blog again!



Jewelry and movies are two of my very favorite things to talk about, so I am very excited about this post. While I am one of the few people in the universe America that does not absolutely love the movie Titanic, I think the "Heart of the Ocean" is a very iconic piece of jewelry... albeit a decidely henious one. Would anyone actually wear it? Anyone? (If you disagree with  me on this, or can think of an occasion that a massive blue heart necklace would be perfect for, leave a comment below!) If you haven't seen Titanic, or can't remember what the necklace looks like, here it is:

By Ben Sutherland [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I got the idea for this post - which may become a series - when a customer called the jewelry store that I work at and asked if we could custom design her a pendant like "that one from Titanic." She then proceeded to ask what kind of stone it centered, and while we all thought it was a blue diamond, my research for the piece revealed that it was not.

The original pendant was designed by London jewelers Asprey and Garrard, and was actually white gold set with a heart-shaped blue cubic zirconia. After the film's release, the necklace rapidly became iconic, and Asprey and Garrard were commissioned to create to create a "real" Heart of the Ocean, which was worth about 3.5 million dollars, and was set with a sapphire. Famed jeweler Harry Winston then decided to make his own variation of the necklace, which featured a 15 carat blue diamond and was reputedly worth 20 million dollars.  Clearly, no one does expensive jewelry quite like Harry Winston.

According to multiple sources, including the Washington Times and Scientific American, James Cameron's Heart of the Ocean was inspired by Kate Phillips, a young passenger on the Titanic. Kate left England in the company her married lover, who gave her a sapphire necklace shortly before the trip. Different sources have supplied vastly different endings for Kate, ranging from dying aboard the ship to carrying a child that was born roughly nine months after the sinking of the Titanic. Kate's sapphire necklace can be seen here.

What do you think happened to Kate Phillips? Which of the two necklaces do you prefer?

Personally, I like Kate Phillips'... but that could have something to do with my love of antique jewelry! ;)