PEOPLEis celebrating the 25th anniversary ofTitanicwith a new special editionall about the movie, from which this story was excerpted.
With so much screen time, this fake treasure had to be spectacular.Titanicproduction designer Peter Lamont commissioned London jewelers Asprey & Garrard to create a few versions of the prop, with a cubic zirconia in the role of the blue diamond. The cost of a real stone of that size, “would have been prohibitive, despite our budget,” he said.
When filming was finished, Asprey brought the Heart of the Ocean into reality, with a spectacular 171-carat blue sapphire and 103 diamonds. “This stone was special,” Asprey’s then-head of jewelry Terry Davidson told Reuters of the Sri Lankan sapphire. “It talked to you. You knew that once it was cut, it would be the heart that we wanted.” He also felt it was important that its blue color “look as near as possible to the clarity of that ice-cold sea in the Arctic.”
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The pendant was made with the intent that it be auctioned for charity. It went on the block in Beverly Hills at a celeb-filled gala in the spring of 1998 and sold for $2.2 million to an anonymous bidder, with proceeds going to Southern California’s Aid for AIDS, and to theDiana, Princess of WalesMemorial Fund, honoring Diana, who had died the previous August.
The PEOPLE Titanic anniversary edition has two collectible covers.
PEOPLE’s new special editionTitanic: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and the Making of an Epic Love Story, is available now wherever magazines are sold.
source: people.com
