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. LINK
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