Recovered Titanic jewels to go on display
»Play Video
DORAVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Most of the jewelry recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic will go on public display for the first time with a three-city tour.
The jewelry is from a single purser's bag found during a 1987 research and recovery mission. The collection includes diamond and sapphire rings, brooches, necklaces, cuff links and a gold pocket watch.
Although single pieces of the jewelry have been on display at one or more permanent and traveling exhibits sponsored by Premier Exhibitions Inc., their Atlanta debut is the first time the majority of the collection has been available to the public.
In a nondescript industrial office in north Atlanta, Premier Exhibitions Inc. and RMS Titanic Inc. officials previewed the artifacts before they go on display Friday in Atlanta. Exhibition company Premier is the parent of RMS Titanic, which owns the rights to salvage from the luxury liner's wreck on the bottom of the North Atlantic.
Alexandra Klingelhofer, vice president of collections for RMS Titanic Inc., said the purpose of the exhibit is to show the public the wonder of exploration.
"Going down two and a half miles below the ocean, recovering a bag, bringing it back up and opening it and finding ... jewelry," Klingelhofer said. "We're able to give them a glimpse of how it must have been to have opened that for the first time and to see, together, the beautiful jewelry of the Edwardian Period."
Conservators and curators have been studying and preserving the jewelry to gain a better understanding of individual passengers' lives aboard the ill-fated voyage.
"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" opened in Atlanta earlier this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. Klingelhofer said this jewelry mini-exhibit is being added to provide personal insight.
"We are constantly researching the artifacts, learning more about their story, and we thought jewelry is so beautiful and responds well to people," she said.
After a two-month exhibit at Premier's display gallery at the Atlantic Station development, the jewels will travel to Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas.
The jewelry is from a single purser's bag found during a 1987 research and recovery mission. The collection includes diamond and sapphire rings, brooches, necklaces, cuff links and a gold pocket watch.
Although single pieces of the jewelry have been on display at one or more permanent and traveling exhibits sponsored by Premier Exhibitions Inc., their Atlanta debut is the first time the majority of the collection has been available to the public.
In a nondescript industrial office in north Atlanta, Premier Exhibitions Inc. and RMS Titanic Inc. officials previewed the artifacts before they go on display Friday in Atlanta. Exhibition company Premier is the parent of RMS Titanic, which owns the rights to salvage from the luxury liner's wreck on the bottom of the North Atlantic.
Alexandra Klingelhofer, vice president of collections for RMS Titanic Inc., said the purpose of the exhibit is to show the public the wonder of exploration.
"Going down two and a half miles below the ocean, recovering a bag, bringing it back up and opening it and finding ... jewelry," Klingelhofer said. "We're able to give them a glimpse of how it must have been to have opened that for the first time and to see, together, the beautiful jewelry of the Edwardian Period."
Conservators and curators have been studying and preserving the jewelry to gain a better understanding of individual passengers' lives aboard the ill-fated voyage.
"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" opened in Atlanta earlier this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. Klingelhofer said this jewelry mini-exhibit is being added to provide personal insight.
"We are constantly researching the artifacts, learning more about their story, and we thought jewelry is so beautiful and responds well to people," she said.
After a two-month exhibit at Premier's display gallery at the Atlantic Station development, the jewels will travel to Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas.
Yeah, it's some beautiful stuff.
Â
Aside from that it's still grave robbers' loot. To me it's akin to going into some old cemetery and digging up graves or breaking into mausoleums of the rich to steal their trinkets. At least the Pharaohs were dead for a couple thousand years.
Â
Oh well.
Â
Â
I realize that salvage rights give the finders possession, but it would still be nice to at least honor the deceased by adding their names to the jewelry they once owned, if possible!
I have mixed emotion about exploration around the Titanic. I think the important measure for us to follow, and perhaps especially the ultra wealthy elite, is that we are not invincible. Just because something is touted as being the best, or undefeatable, does not mean that we can allow ourselves to be reckless or careless.
Beautiful ring! And so clear on the sapphire! I'd like to see the rest!
"the wonder of exploration" in this case could also be called "the plundering or a grave site" since so many people went down with that ship and many may still be entombed there.
Perhaps, but it is also a reminder of the arrogance we can possess when it comes to the power of nature. Remember, this was an "unsinkable vessel" racing across calm seas with an inadaquate number of lifeboats and proper safety measures. We should keep those thoughts and lessons alive. If we don't explore and allow funding or exloitation, if you will, of such exploration, then the lessons fade. There are enough people out there trying to rewrite history and ignore human folly and cruelty, such as the Holocaust.Â