Because the necklace was in the style of mourning jewelry, researchers suspect that its owner had likely just lost someone when the doomed ship went down on April 15, 1912.
RMS Titanic, Inc.The necklace’s octagonal and heart-shaped beads are made of a type of black glass known as French jet, which was often worn in mourning during this era.
A necklace owned by one of the passengers on the RMS Titanic was recently discovered hidden inside a hunk of wreckage that was first brought to the surface 25 years ago.
In 2000, divers unwittingly recovered the necklace when they were retrieving pieces of the wreckage. For more than two decades, the beads of the necklace remained stuck between pieces of sediment and debris that had fused together due to the intense water pressure at the ocean floor.
Now, the necklace has been removed from the chunk of wreckage and has been put on display at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Orlando, Florida. While the story behind this stunning artifact largely remains shrouded in mystery, experts determined that it was likely a piece of Victorian-era mourning jewelry, suggesting its owner had recently lost someone when they boarded the doomed ship in April 1912.
How This Titanic Passenger’s Mourning Necklace Remained Hidden For 25 Years
RMS Titanic, Inc.Researchers have no way of knowing who the necklace once belonged to.
Ever since the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, a wealth of artifacts have been salvaged from the wreckage. In 2000, a team of divers from RMS Titanic, Inc. retrieved a large chunk and some smaller fragments from the ship’s debris field in the North Atlantic.
At the time, they believed they’d found all of the artifacts that could be pulled from the pieces of wreckage, according to a statement from RMS Titanic, Inc. But recently, upon closer examination of the salvaged chunk of wreckage, conservators discovered the necklace hidden inside the sediment.
This stunning piece of jewelry had gone unnoticed for nearly 25 years due to the specific nature of the chunk of wreckage in which it was found. What the divers retrieved in 2000 is called a concretion, which is a hardened mass made of sand, rock, corroded materials, and other detritus all fused together thanks to the immense amount of pressure deep beneath the surface of the sea.
RMS Titanic, Inc.French jet became popular in mourning jewelry after Queen Victoria wore it to the funeral of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861.
Once conservators eventually realized that some sort of artifact was inside the concretion, they went to work carefully dusting away the sediment and finally revealed small black beads in the shapes of octagons and hearts. Some beads had broken off, but some still remained strung together even after 113 years.
After finding the necklace, RMS Titanic, Inc. attempted to figure out who may have owned it. But upon combing through insurance claims filed after the Titanic sank, they came up with nothing. It’s possible that the piece was uninsured, but it’s also possible that a claim was never filed because its owner was one of the 1,496 people who didn’t survive.
Was The Necklace’s Owner In Mourning While Aboard The Titanic?
RMS Titanic, Inc.The necklace is now on display at the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.
What experts do know is that the necklace was likely a piece of Victorian-era mourning jewelry. Analysis of the beads revealed that they were made of a kind of glass called French jet, which was a more affordable imitation of the gemstone jet, a form of coal made from fossilized wood.
Jewelry made from black stones, such as jet glass and onyx, were commonly worn by those in mourning during both the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The practice became popular after Queen Victoria wore pieces made of jet to the funeral of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1862, and continued to wear them for the rest of her life.
It’s possible that the passenger on the Titanic who owned the French jet necklace was in mourning herself.
“This necklace is a powerful reminder that every artifact tells a personal story,” said Tomasina Ray, President and Director of Collections of RMS Titanic, Inc. “From the craftsmanship to the materials, it offers a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into the style, sentiment, and everyday life of Titanic’s passengers.”
After reading about the mourning necklace salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic, discover these 12 stories from survivors of the ship’s sinking. Then, learn about what happened to the ship’s wreck after it sank to the bottom of the ocean.
