Today five large-scale One Ring replicas made by a Nelson jeweller are being sent to high profile international premieres of The Hobbit trilogy’s final instalment.
Jens Hansen - the Ringmaker designed and made all the One Rings used in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. Halfdan Hansen said photos taken with a 15cm replica of the One Ring were popular with tourists visiting the Jens Hansen Nelson Workshop.
For the second Hobbit movie the “giant” ring was sent to South Korea and Japan to help promote New Zealand, Nelson and the movie to their local movie fans. “The people in Japan and South Korea went crazy over the giant ring, so we decided to offer five up to Tourism New Zealand offices in other places around the world,” he said.
The five rings are now heading to Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, New York and London, ready for their big movie events. Stoke firm CNC Engineering made the giant rings in bronze which were then polished and gold plated, and are being air freighted in special carrying cases. “It is fantastic for Nelson to have a presence at these large global events, and We have asked that people sharing photos on social media use #nelsonnz, to spread the word about our town,” he said.
“Kudos also to Nelson Tasman Tourism, who helped facilitate this opportunity.” The epic final of the Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies, is due to be released in three weeks. Hansen said they hoped to have a staff pizza and film night to watch it in Nelson.
The Nelson Mail
Nov 20 2014