Titanic’s poignant mourning necklace on display –

A black glass necklace unknowingly salvaged from the wreckage of the Titanic 25 years ago is on display at the Titanic: Artifacts Exhibition in Orlando, Florida. The fragile strands of beads are hidden within condensates, which are hardened sediments, corroded materials, sand, rocks and ocean debris that have been fused together by water pressure.

In 2000, it was recovered by divers from the RMS Titanic Company as a sample of debris from the wreckage. All visible artifacts at the time have been removed. However, a recent review of stored wreckage samples found signs that artifacts may be present within the nodules. Careful microscopic excavation of the mass revealed that it contained tiny heart- and octagonal black beads. It appears in sections, with strands of beads still strung together and individual beads broken off from the threads.

Analysis of the material revealed that it was French coal jade, a cheap imitation of coal jade that was popular as mourning jewelry during the Victorian era. Jet is a semi-precious stone made from fossilized wood, specifically wood from the monkey puzzle tree. Victoria wore jet jewelry to the funeral of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, and wore it almost exclusively for the rest of her life. Her profound mourning for her husband throughout her life established the fashion for jet jewelry to be worn by all classes of society.

Britain’s finest jets are found in Whitby, Yorkshire, where craftsmen crafted jet parts with high-gloss polishes. As demand for the product surged, Whitby’s limited supply of jets dwindled by the end of the 19th century, and jewelers turned to other sources. French jets are just black glass so they’re easy to use, shiny and cheap.

Titanic Company researchers scoured records for any information about the necklace. Whoever owned it must have been a mourning passenger, but no further information could be found. No insurance claim was ever made for it, which doesn’t necessarily mean its owner survived the disaster, as the necklace may have never been insured in the first place because it was made of cheap glass.

“There is a certain drama and beauty to the way grief manifests itself,” Ray and her colleague Rose Mumford, a research and content specialist on Royal Titanic, explained in an email. “This necklace provides a rare, tangible connection to that world: it allows us a once-in-a-lifetime look not only into the style and craftsmanship of the time, but also into the emotional landscape of the people aboard the Titanic.”