In my next life, I want to come back as a fabulous, spoiled heiress from another era - preferably with a vast inherited fortune and a taste for fine (read: expensive) jewelry.
Like Evalyn Walsh McLean, with whom the spectacular Hope Diamond is most closely associated. A 45.52 carat wonder, a fancy dark grayish-blue color, class IIb with a VS1 clarity impacted by a whitish graining not uncommon in blue diamonds, and an amazing red phosphorescence (which lasts for a short period of time after you expose it to ultra-violet light). Why blue? Because it contains trace levels of the mineral boron.
According to a really in-depth piece on Smithsonian website (www.si.edu) - where they have all the important stats & facts about the diamond - the stone was originally a crudely cut, triangular shaped 112 & 3/16 carat monster from India's Kollur mine in Golconda. Its purchaser, a traveling French merchant named Jean Baptiste Tavernier described the color as a 'beautiful violet.'
Pierre Cartier, son of founder Louis-Francois, is probably the one most responsible for the story of the stone's legendary curse:
In 1910, he pays a visit to McLean on one of her visits with husband Ned to Paris. Knowing his prey, he wraps the Hope Diamond in a "curious little package" sealed with wax, telling her, "I have brought with me a little something you may remember, Madam. For when we last met, you told me of a great blue stone you had seen at the throat of the sultan's favorite in a harem in Turkey. N'est pas?" (Check out the PBS website www.pbs.org for the full tale.) She doesn't like the setting, but knowing he's piqued her interest, he soon begins spinning tales about the rock, telling her it comes with a curse!
After Cartier lets her "keep" it for a few days, just to see how she likes it - she can't resist, especially the part about the curse. According to Washington Post columnist Sarah Booth Conroy, McLean "thought things that were unlucky for everybody else would be lucky for her, because she was an exception."
From that day one, she was always seen in the Hope Diamond, throwing lavish parties, dominating the social scene and gossip columns, and leading a high profile existence. She received daily letters warning her about the evil contained in the stone, but that probably only added to its allure for her. In her autobiography, she notes that "My preference, generally, is for show. It's only when the thing I buy creates a show for those around me that I get my money's worth." Jeffrey Post, a Smithsonian curator notes, "She lived a flamboyant lifestyle, She liked being in the spotlight, and the Hope Diamond was one way of keeping her in the spotlight."
But you be the judge of whether the diamond was cursed:
- Her son Vinson was killed in a car accident at the age of nine.
- Husband Ned, a hardcore alcoholic, left her for another woman and squanders their fortune. He later dies in a sanatorium.
- The family newspaper The Washington Post went bankrupt - She constantly had to pawn the diamond to raise cash, as she was always running out of money.
- Her daughter Evalyn Reynolds overdoses on sleeping pills at the age of twenty-five.
- The lady herself dies slowly and painfully after breaking her hip in a fall, and contracting a nasty illness in the hospital.
When Harry Winston acquired the Hope Diamond, they pooh-pooh'ed the curse, stating that by putting it on display, the public could share whatever hex was supposed to exist. Cutting edge new computer technology - check out this cool piece in Wired.com - has verified a French connection for the Hope Diamond, linking it directly to the famed French Blue stone owned by King Louis XIV of France - and stolen during the French Revolution. Here is the Hope Diamond cheat sheet:
- 1668: Tavernier sold it to Louis XIV of France, where his court jeweler, Sieru Pitau re-cut it down to 67 1/8 carats, set it in gold on a neck ribbon for the King to wear on ceremonial occasions. It became known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown or French Blue.
- 1749: Louis XV had his court jeweler Andre Jacquemin reset it for the Toison D'Or (Order of the Golden Fleece).
- 1791: After Louis XVI & Marie Anoinette attempted to flee France, it was siezed by the government, and later stolen in 1792 when crowds looted the crown jewels.
- 1812: Shows up in London, owned by Daniel Eliason, a diamond merchant. It had been re-cut to 177 grains or 44.25 carats. Then acquired by King George IV.
- 1830: King George IV dies, leaving a legacy of debts, debts, and more debts. The diamond disappears into private hands again.
- 1839: Shows up in the collection of its namesake, Henry Philip Hope. No one exactly sure how it got there. His nephew's grandson Francis later hocks it in 1901 to pay off debts.
- 1909: Pierre Cartier, one of the sons of Cartier founder Louis-Francois, acquires it from Selim Habib.
- 1911: Pierre Cartier sells it to Evalyn Walsh McLean for $180,000 as a headpiece in a setting of white diamonds. Later, it is changed into a pendant.
- 1947: McLean dies and her jewelry is purchased by Harry Winston, including the 15 carat Star of the South diamond, 31 carat McLean Diamond, and the 94.8 carat Star of the East rock.
- 1958: Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian.