From WENN.com

""It's a bit of New Zealand. This is green stone and the Maori people there carve it into shapes and good luck tokens, but this is just a bit of old rock and I thought as I was talking about The Hobbit, I want to have a piece of New Zealand around my neck. I love it!"" Sir Ian Mckellen is keeping New Zealand close to his heart during promotion for the The Lord of the Rings prequel after spending 18 months there shooting the project.