Celebrities love their diamonds, and so do we. When you have millions of dollars to toss around, why not decorate your decolletage with some very expensive rocks? They sparkle!
There are a few diamonds that shine through pop cultural history and still dazzle us today, like the yellow Breakfast At Tiffany’s diamond that Audrey Hepburn wore (and Lady Gaga almost stole) – but the Queen of onscreen gems has to be Titanic’s iconic “Heart of the Ocean” necklace.
You know it as the bougie gift that villain Cal Hockley gives Rose. It steals the show at the end of the movie, too. After audiences watch Jack freeze in the aftermath of the ship’s disastrous sinking, director James Cameron takes the action forward in time to show us old Rose tossing it into the ocean where its name suggests it belongs.
IRL, this diamond is at the ‘heart’ (LOL) of some of the real Titanic’s mysteries – many of which remain unsolved to this day.
It’s Modeled on The Hope Diamond
According to luxury jewelry design company Haruni, James Cameron based Rose’s stunning blue diamond gift on the Hope Diamond, a real jewel worn by royals and wealthy socialites alike in the early 1900s. Its estimated 45.52 carats and stunning blue hue make it a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry, but you won’t find it for sale. It lives at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.
“It’s certainly our most special gemstone here in our collection,” explains Smithsonian Geologist Jeffrey E. Post. “It’s the largest blue diamond in the world and it has the most extraordinary history behind it.”
The diamond itself was found in India in 1668, according to The Smithsonian. After being passed around French nobility, it was bought for Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean by her husband in 1910. Eventually, she had it set into a white diamond necklace by Cartier, with adjustments made by jeweler Harry Winston.
The Prop Costs A Fraction of The Real Thing
The prop necklace used in Titanic cost approximately $7610, according to the Capetown Diamond Museum. That’s not cheap for a beautiful necklace, but it’s nowhere near as expensive as the piece it’s based on. Haruni estimates that The Heart of The Ocean’s real-life counterpart, the Hope Diamond, is worth between $200-$250 million USD today, while other diamond experts bump that up to possibly $350 million.
The Kardashians hire armed guards to protect their diamonds, but theirs are only worth about $30 million dollars. To put the insane $350 million value of the Hope Diamond in perspective, buying it would cost as much as Beyoncé’s entire net worth (as reported by Forbes). THIS DIAMOND IS THE BEYONCE OF JEWELS.
It’s Often Replicated, But Never Duplicated
Necklaces in this style (50-ish carat blue jewels set into white diamond frames and chains) saw a post-Titanic spike in popularity, according to Haruni. Look no further than 1998’s Oscars red carpet for proof.
Gloria Stuart, the actress who played grown-up Rose in Titanic, loved the prop diamond necklace so much that she had the iconic Harry Winston company design a replica for her to wear at the 70th Annual Academy Awards.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/leonardo-dicaprio1-2000-7883191cc6614ff6a4db7e0053e85ed8.jpg)
Then aged 87, she was the oldest actress ever to walk that red carpet as an Academy Award nominee. She still holds that record! But she wasn’t the only one to wear a Heart of The Ocean copy that night.
Celine Dion rocked a more literal blue heart necklace on both the red carpet and her onstage performance at that year’s Oscars. It might have doubled as a good luck charm: Titanic swept the night with 14 nominations and 11 wins.
Maybe lucky powers have something to do with the real Heart Of The Ocean/Hope Diamond costing so much?
