The History of the Hope Diamond: Glamourous, Mysterious...& Possibly Cursed
From gracing the neck of Marie Antoinette to leaving a trail of untimely deaths in its wake, the elaborate legend of this famous blue stone has been marked by kings, thieves, queens, scoundrels, actors, military commanders and American heiresses. As part of the Smithsonian's world-class gem collection - which includes diamond earrings worn by Marie Antoinette, a diamond necklace owned by Napoleon's wife, an immense emerald owned by the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and some of the world’s largest rubies and sapphires - the 45+ carat dazzler has transcended its own mega bling factor to become the institution's most visited exhibition.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the donation of the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian, it is being showcased for a limited time in a new temporary setting, “Embracing Hope,” designed by Harry Winston, and also starring in a one-hour special which promises to unlock its longheld secrets.
While the institution does not place a valuation on the stone, outside sources value it in the hundreds of millions of dollars, thanks to its colorful history, flawless clarity, rare deep blue color (a trace impurity of the element boron in the diamond’s internal atomic structure), and distinctive scientific properties which have long puzzled experts since its discovery, and have given rise to rumors of an alleged curse surrounding the one-of-a-kind wonder. It is claimed that throughout its long history, all who have owned it – or even touched it – have met great tragedy...and, indeed, under ultra-violet light, The Hope suddenly glows a fiery red – which has further fueled its dangerous reputation.
To answer questions about the stone's unique properties, "Mystery of the Hope Diamond" - a one-hour special premiering on the Smithsonian Channel, Sunday, November 21 at 8pm (or online at SmithsonianChannel.com on 11/18) - will follow gem experts as they carefully drill into the Hope with a Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer. By magnifying the image over 1000 times, the spectrometer will split apart the stone's sample into its constituent atoms and sort them by weight, creating an exact atomic "fingerprint." The result is that diamond's DNA will essentially be unraveled, more than a billion years after it was first formed 90 miles below the Earth’s surface and later pushed upward by a volcanic eruption and later discovered in the 17th century in a mine in Golconda, India.
In 1668, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French gem merchant, sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France. During the French Revolution it was stolen and subsequently had many owners, including Henry Philip Hope, whose name it still bears today, and possibly King George IV of England. In 1949, its last private owner, the famed jeweler Harry Winston, purchased the diamond from the estate of the American Socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean and donated the diamond to the Smithsonian in 1958. Its gift to the Smithsonian and the nation was one of the greatest acts of American philanthropy, and it has been on view in the National Museum of Natural History for the past 50 years.
To whet your appetite for this brilliant, if eerie, bit o' bling, be sure to test your knowledge of the planet's most famous diamond on their FB page; also, here is a sneak-peek trailer of some serious ice, ice baby!
- Lesley Scott
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