Thanks to director and screenwriter James Cameron, the story of the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912, has finally become a success story. Cameron's film about the famous accident was extremely difficult to realize and drove the producers crazy. But despite the studio preparing to lose due to budget overruns, the Titanic looted the box office after its 1997 premiere.
Today, there is almost no one who has not watched the shocking drama about Jack and Rose, two young people whose love was followed in the middle of a shipwreck. On the waves of their popularity, the diamond Heart of the Ocean, a fictional piece of jewelry and the initiator of a film shop, successfully entered the world of culture. Singer Celine Dion took a replica of this blue prop at the 1998 Oscars, which was later sold at auction for $ 1.4 million. Today, other copies are so available that they can be ordered through Aliexpress, while one of them could be seen at the Vetements brand fashion show last year.
Cameron made sure that almost every detail in the film was historically authentic or possible. The script required that the necklace with the Heart of the Ocean sink to the seabed, so that no decorative item from the famous vaults came into consideration. Instead, the new gem is modeled on one well-known in the world - the Hope Diamond. The turbulent past of this blue gem, which allegedly adorned the statue of the Hindu goddess Sita, is so exciting that it deserves its own film.
Hope's diamond was discovered in India and became the property of the French merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in the 17th century. But, if you remember Cameron's drama well, except for the rare blue color, none of the above is reminiscent of the Heart of the Ocean. Everything we know about the diamond from the Titanic fits into a few sentences, which were uttered by the fiancée of the main character Rose. The heart of the ocean weighs 56 carats, said Cal Hockley, and was owned by King Louis XVI. Imagination and reality touch precisely in that footnote, which relies on the French court. Louis XIV bought the Hope diamond from the Tavern in 1668 and passed it on to his heirs, among whom he would become known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown. In the next century, this treasure, just like the movie Heart of the Ocean, will belong to Louis XVI.
In 1839, the precious stone that was once adorned by French kings was bought by the wealthy British collector Henry Philip Hope, after whom the diamond is named today. The alleged curse, however, caught up only with his grandson, Francis Hope, who was left without wealth and died in poverty. The legend persists thanks to the famous American heiress Evelyn Walsh McLean, who lived with the diamond for 36 years, breaking the record in the length of his stay in private ownership. If there are curses, it selectively targets only her dear people - McLean lost her son when he had a car accident, her daughter when she committed suicide and her husband when he left because of another woman.
Today's look of Hope's diamond dates back to 1910, when Pierre Cartier surrounded it with white diamonds and adapted it to Evelyn Walsh McLean's taste.
Over time, the stories of the curse subsided. Hope's diamond, weighing 45.52 carats, is kept today in the American Smithsonian, where it can no longer harm anyone, but the story of jewelry and the famous film has another chapter. The heart of the ocean is made of zircon and decorated with 130 crystals, and on the big screen it was taken by a heroine who reconsiders social conventions and loses a partner. In 2007, the necklace Love of the Sea was bought, an authentic piece of jewelry associated with the ship RMS Titanic, which is somewhat reminiscent of Cameron's film plot.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian exhibition, the Hope Diamond was temporarily housed in a new luxury necklace in 2010.
More than 1,500 people died when the RMS Titanic sank in icy water on the high seas. Kate Phillips is one of 705 survivors who are no longer with us. Memories of great events are deceptive even for history, which tries to penetrate their secrets with scientific attention. It is quite certain that many biographical stories will remain untold or, as in the case of Evelyn Marie's origins, unconfirmed. Maybe that's where our penchant for glittering little things comes from. Hope's diamond and Love of the Sea would not mean much without their owners. Jewelry doesn’t write drama. It only reminds us that, where there is life, various objects can become its witnesses.
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I could watch the movie ... again