MICHAGAN (Bloomberg) — A model of the White Star liner RMS Titanic, which sank with the loss of 1,500 lives some 96 years ago, is up for sale and has already attracted bids of more than a million dollars.

The 18-foot (5.49 metre) long replica of the ill-fated ship, meticulously recreated from brass, wood and fibreglass by Fine Art Models of Birmingham, Michigan, took seven years to make and is the only model to use the ship's original blueprints, the makers say.

"We've turned down some very serious offers, well over a million dollars," Fine Art's Gary Kohs said in a telephone interview from the company's offices today.

The original Titanic cost its owners, White Star, 1.5 million pounds ($2.96 million) to build in the early part of the last century. It sank on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland while on its maiden voyage to New York with 2,240 people aboard. There were 706 survivors.

Kohs wouldn't say how much the replica may end up selling for, but added that a condition of any sale is that the public will always be able to view the model for free.

"I would rather give it away than sell it - it should be on display in Belfast," Kohs said. "This was never about profiting from a tragedy. It was an honor to do it."

Fine Art says the original Titanic's builders, Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland, have never before released the plans for the ship, and their representatives worked with the company to produce the model.

The replica's hull, of fiberglass and brass plating, is held together with 3.3 million rivets and the wood decking is painted in the original colors of black, white, red and ochre.

Fine Art also added scale models of furniture and equipment. The successful buyer can, if he or she wants, rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic.