Features and History of Hope Diamond

Diamonds have always been of particular value. Dark and frightening stories, tribal curses are associated with many of them. One such is Hope's diamond.

Currently, the Hope Diamond is located at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA). The exhibit is on display. It is considered one of the largest and weighs 45.52 carats (9.104 g). Its cut is called "cushion". Rounded corners and convex sides visually resemble a pillow, so another name for the cut is “pillow-shaped”. The diamond has the following dimensions: length - 25.60 mm, width - 21.78 mm, height - 12 mm.

The purity of the diamond was determined in 1988 by experts from the Gemological Institute (USA). The result obtained corresponds to the indicator VS1. Existing inclusions and defects are almost invisible even with a 10-fold increase. Hope is now the centerpiece of a luxurious necklace. It is surrounded by 45 colorless diamonds (pear, cushion cut). The second name of the diamond is Blue French.

Hope owes his appearance in Europe to Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French merchant specializing in jewelry trade. The main occupation of the merchant was the purchase of precious stones in India with a view to their further resale and increase the initial cost many times.

According to legend, the sapphire diamond served as a decoration for the statue of the goddess Sita (wife of Rama). How he ended up in Tavernier’s hands is unknown. It is doubtful that the merchant personally stole it from the temple, but the fact remains. The initial weight of the stone was 23 grams, the shape is triangular. The cut was rough, but this did not affect the state of the diamond. Jean-Baptiste called his color "marvelous purple."

The Indians believed that an attempt on a statue of a deity would not go unpunished. Anyone who turns out to be the owner of the crystal will inevitably overtake punishment: failure, misfortune, and even death. But despite this, Tavernier returned to his homeland (though after 26 years), sold the stone to the court jeweler of the then-ruling Louis XIV, for which he received the title of nobleman. The merchant spent the last years of his life in Russia, where he was buried. Nothing is known of any tragic moments in his life.

In ancient times, he decorated the ring of Empress Maria Fedorovna. The king of France became the owner of a larger stone. It was he who gave the second name to the luxurious crystal - "Blue Frenchman".

The pendant was a favorite decoration of the Bourbons and brought the wrath of the Indian gods not only to this dynasty. The Sun King presented the diamond to his favorite, the Marquise de Montespan, who had appeased him for many years. However, after such a generous gift, Louis XIV suddenly cooled to his mistress and drove her out, not forgetting to pick up the diamond. Seven months later, the king fell from the horse on a hunt and injured his leg. The strongest gangrene began, which became the reason for his death.

This series of tragedies did not end: for a year, death claimed all the heirs to the throne. Only the grandson survived, and he began to rule France. The diamond has been in the royal treasury for many years, as Louis XV was superstitious and was afraid of the curse of the stone. The king did not immediately decide to decorate his suit with them. The Marquise Dubarry partially repeated the fate of the Marquise de Montespan. Having received a pendant with a diamond from Louis XV as a gift, the favorite quickly turned out to be out of favor. Subsequently, she was accused of adhering to counterrevolutionism and executed.

The family of Louis XVI was not saved from the curse of the "Blue Frenchman". The royal family was interrupted by the guillotine. Moreover, a friend of Marie Antoinette, who put on a luxurious necklace several times, tragically died at the hands of a raging drunken crowd.

The second coming of the ominous stone falls on 1820. The cut and weight of the diamond have changed by that time. King George IV became the owner of the diamond. The talent and mind of the monarch seemed to melt into a transparent crystal. According to contemporaries, the changes that occurred with the personality of the king turned out to be out of the ordinary. Wild orgies and drunkenness became the eternal companions of the ruler. After his death, the jewel was put up for auction, where it was purchased by Henry Philip Hope for 18 thousand pounds (1839). It was at this time that the diamond received another big name.

Banker Hope was another victim of the ill-fated decoration. The owner died for an unknown reason, and the stone began to move from one heir to another. But he did not bring them anything good: his son was poisoned, his grandson went bankrupt. After Henrietta, the great-granddaughter of Philip, married the Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, the diamond began to belong to the new dynasty.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Hope's diamond was in the East. Initially, it was acquired by a collector from Turkey, but he was destined to not have such treasure for long.The ship fell into a strong storm, it was thrown from side to side, as well as people on board. A fracture of the cervical vertebrae interrupted the life of a collector. On this gloomy journey of the crystal in the East does not end there. He passes into the hands of Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan of Turkey gives a blue diamond to his beloved concubine, and after some time she is killed by robbers. An evil fate befell the very Abdul-Hamid. Deposed from the throne in 1909, he spent the last years of his life in prison.

For some time, the owner of the stone was Prince Kandovitsky. The Russian prince presented a blue diamond to his beloved - a famous dancer, distinguished by windiness. The prince, blinded by jealousy, shot his girlfriend, but he also did not escape the curse of the stone. Native dancers avenged her death by hiring a killer.

By the end of the 20th century, the Hopes once again found the diamond. Earl Lincoln, who lived in the United States, was the direct heir to the banker. The stone brought ruin and poverty with it. Earl's wife, unable to bear such a plight, left her husband, opting for the wealthy and wealthy mayor of New York. A critical situation caused the sale of jewelry.

The modern jewelry design was given by the famous jeweler Pierre Cartier. The Frenchman laid out a fabulous sum for his purchase - 550 thousand francs. But Cartier did not stop there: a new cut (cushion), a frame of 16 white diamonds. So an expensive and luxurious necklace was born.

Researchers believe that the Hope family deliberately created an aura of sinister mystery around the stone. After all, this directly affected its value. Collectors had large sums and did not hesitate to give them at auctions for a blue diamond, on which lay the curse of the Indian gods. All this was taken into account by Pierre Cartier. As a successful businessman, he decided to sell the necklace.

The jeweler skillfully fueled interest in jewelry, using the mysterious and tragic stories associated with the “Blue Frenchman”. As a result, Evelyn Macklin becomes the new owner. She experienced both horror and reverence for the diamond. The gloomy stories of the previous owners pushed her to cover the purchase in the church, but this attempt did not bring any result. Eyewitnesses claimed that the love of the necklace had the character of an obsession: Evelyn did not part with the diamond. Then a series of tragic events take place in the family: against the background of alcohol dependence, Evelyn’s husband ends up in a clinic for the mentally ill, his son dies under the wheels of a car, and his daughter commits suicide.

After death, Maclean bequeathed the crystal to her grandchildren. They did not tempt fate and sold the inheritance to the jeweler Harry Winston, thereby paying off the debts of their grandmother. A pragmatist by nature, the jeweler did not attach importance to the sinister historical side of the phenomenon, although he had heard about the tragic fate that befell all the owners of the stone. He was perhaps the only and last owner who did not suffer from the "Blue Frenchman." Winston arranged a variety of charity events and evenings, where he demonstrated the Hope diamond.

In 1958, Harry Winston sold the necklace to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is to this day. The fee for the luxurious exhibit was purely symbolic - $ 146. The decoration was mailed wrapped in rough brown paper.

About Hope's diamond, see the next video.