Located in the centre of Rolls-Royce hoods, the Spirit of Ecstasy is one of the world's most highly desired and prestigious hood ornaments. With a valuation of hundreds of thousands of dollars, it is also the world's most expensive hood ornament.
From forbidden love affairs to outrageous valuation, the Spirit of Ecstasy, also known as the Flying Lady, has several weird truths behind it.
This valued hood ornament was based on Eleanor Velasco Thorton, who is also known as Thorn. Lord John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the creator of the decoration, who was already married to Lady Cecil Constance Kerr, had an affair with Thorn and a daughter was born from this union.
The belief in the affair was confirmed when the Spirit of Ecstasy was unveiled. The first figure of the ornament sculpted by Charles Robinson Sykes, a friend of Montagu, was that of a woman standing on one foot, holding a finger to her lips as if keeping a secret. Initially, this figure was known as "The Whisper," symbolising the secret affair.
Due to the high valuation, the Spirit of Ecstasy is prone to be stolen. However, the robust anti-theft mechanism ensures that the cars themselves resist an attempted theft.
Post-2003, each Rolls-Royce car mounted the hood ornament on a spring-loaded mechanism. The Flying Lady would automatically detract into the radiator shell when hit from any direction. Besides, to keep the Spirit of Ecstasy untouched, the driver can raise or lower the emblem through automated systems from within the car.
The international diamond expert Mouawad's craftsmen spent about 350 hours laying 38.53 carats of diamond to cover the Flying Lady in a gown of 2300 diamonds. This grandeur was to mark the centennial of the Spirit of Ecstasy in 2011. The diamond-studded figure was valued at a whopping $250,000.
The Spirit of Ecstasy was also cocooned in a Faberge egg as another fancy variant. Liisa Talgren, the Lead Designer of Faberge and Alex Innes, a Rolls-Royce designer, designed the Egg. The extraordinary skills of seven craftspeople led by workmaster Paul Jones and the finest material helped give shape to this fancy Flying Lady in an Egg.
Before being covered in precious metals, the Spirit of Ecstasy was expensive enough. The current design is made of platinum and other rare metals and is completely coated in 150 carats of high-quality diamonds. This adds to the already-outrageous net worth. Even though the ornament is not for sale currently, it is valued at an average of $200,000.
