Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a renowned 45-carat blue gemstone with a rich history that spans centuries, originating from the diamond mines of India and eventually finding a home at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Known for its striking color and historical significance, the diamond has been associated with tales of a curse said to afflict its owners, although experts view these stories as mere folklore intended to enhance its allure. The diamond's unique coloring is attributed to the presence of boron, which also allows it to conduct electricity and emit an orange glow under ultraviolet light.
Originally discovered by French diamond merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier in the 17th century, the diamond was sold to King Louis XIV of France, polished, and became part of the French crown jewels. After a series of ownership changes, including possession by British royalty and then the Hope family, the diamond gained its current name. It was eventually purchased by American socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean and later donated to the Smithsonian by jeweler Harry Winston in 1958, with the intention of enriching the cultural heritage of the United States. Today, the Hope Diamond is considered one of the most valuable gems in the world, with an estimated worth between $200 million and $250 million, and remains a popular exhibit at the Smithsonian.
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Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a world-famous gemstone with a centuries-old history that can be traced from the diamond mines of India to the French court of Louis XIV to modern-day Washington, DC. The diamond weighs more than 45 carats and has a distinctive blue color that makes it one of the rarest and most valuable jewels in the world. It was forged deep below Earth’s surface billions of years ago. Its storied history comes complete with tales of a curse that has supposedly followed its owners over the years. However, experts say the curse is nothing more than a folktale, most likely designed to raise interest in the jewel. In the 1950s, a New York jeweler donated the Hope Diamond to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, with the hope it would become a national heirloom of the United States.
Background
Most diamonds are formed miles below Earth’s crust in the mantle, a mostly solid region of the planet’s interior between the solid crust and the fluid outer core. In the intense heat and pressure found in the region, carbon atoms can be squeezed together to form crystals, which, over the span of billions of years, can build up to become diamonds. Once forged, diamonds reach the surface through a unique type of volcanic eruption that quickly funnels magma upward through a tube-like geological formation. The magma hardens, trapping the diamonds inside a type of rock known as kimberlite. Over time, the surrounding rock slowly erodes, leaving behind the diamonds.
The Hope Diamond, and other blue diamonds, are more rare than other diamonds because they formed deeper in the mantle, possibly as deep as 250 to 1,800 miles (400 to 2,900 kilometers) below the surface. At that depth, minerals containing the element boron were broken down by the immense heat and pressure. The boron atoms became enmeshed in the crystalline bonds of the carbon atoms, giving the diamonds their blue color. The boron also allows the diamonds to conduct an electrical current and give off an orange glow under ultraviolet light.
Overview
In the mid-seventeenth century, a French diamond merchant named Jean Baptiste Tavernier purchased a number of gems found in the mines of southern India. The largest was a triangular-shaped blue diamond that weighed more than 112 carats. A carat is a unit for measuring diamonds and other precious stones. One carat corresponds to 200 milligrams. In 1668, Tavernier sold the gem to King Louis XIV of France, who had it polished and recut in 1673. The new 67-carat diamond was known as the French Blue and was worn by the king for ceremonial occasions. It became one of the crown jewels of France and was passed down to his successors. During the French Revolution, the new government confiscated the crown jewels in 1791 and put them on public display. A year later, the jewels were looted, and the French Blue was stolen.
In 1812, a blue diamond was discovered in the possession of an English diamond merchant named Daniel Eliason. Experts believe it was cut from the French Blue. The new diamond weighed 45 carats and was eventually sold to Britain’s King George IV. George was known for his opulent lifestyle and excessive spending. Upon his death in 1830, his assets were sold off to pay his large debts. The blue diamond was sold to English diamond collector Henry Philip Hope, whose name was attached to the gem going forward. The diamond was passed down in the Hope family until 1901, when Lord Francis Hope—Henry’s grandnephew—lost the family fortune and was forced to sell the diamond.
The Hope Diamond was bought by Joseph Frankel’s Sons & Company, a jeweler from New York City. The company invested a significant amount of money in purchasing the gem, but had trouble finding a buyer. Eventually, the jewel was sold at auction for a bargain price. It changed hands several times before it was purchased at another auction by French jeweler Pierre Cartier in 1909. To entice a prospective buyer from the United States, Cartier invented a story that the jewel was stolen from a Hindu idol in an Indian temple. The Hindu god supposedly cursed the stone, so that death and misfortune followed anyone who possessed it. The story intrigued the buyer, Evalyn Walsh McLean of the United States. Her husband, Ned, was the wealthy owner of the Washington Post and bought the diamond for his wife in 1911. After the McLeans’ ten-year-old son was killed by a car in 1919, newspapers began playing up the aspect of a curse on the gem, and the story gained notice among the public.
Evalyn McLean, who embraced the attention that came with the Hope Diamond, often wore it at parties in the Washington social scene. She used it to raise money for charity, auctioning off a chance to hold the gem or allowing brides to wear it on their wedding days. After her death in 1947, the diamond was sold to famed New York jeweler Harry Winston. Winston gave the Hope Diamond a new setting, making it the centerpiece in a ring of sixteen white diamonds he called the Court of Jewels. He displayed the now-famous diamond for a decade at charity events and diamond shows worldwide.
In 1958, Winston decided to donate the Hope Diamond to the National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Winston reasoned that the United States did not have a collection of crown jewels like many other world powers. By donating the diamond, he believed it would become the centerpiece of a national collection of jewels and enhance the county’s cultural status. Winston mailed the Hope Diamond from New York to Washington in a brown paper-wrapped package, spending $2.44 for the postage, although he did insure the package.
At first, some Americans did not want the museum to accept the diamond, fearing the tales of a curse. However, the Hope Diamond has been a popular exhibit at the museum since 1958 and remained on display there in 2024. According to some experts, the Hope Diamond had an estimated value somewhere between $200 million and $250 million. That would make it the third most valuable diamond in the world.
Bibliography
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“The Hope Diamond.” Smithsonian Institution, www.si.edu/spotlight/hope-diamond. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.
Kurin, Richard. “The Curse of the Hope Diamond.” The Great Courses Daily, 12 Mar. 2017, www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/curse-hope-diamond/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.
Kurin, Richard. “Hope Diamond.” The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects. Penguin Books, 2017, pp. 620–625.
Nalewicki, Jennifer. "The Hope Diamond: The 'Cursed' Blue Gemstone Coveted by Royalty." LiveScience, 22 June 2024, www.livescience.com/archaeology/the-hope-diamond-the-cursed-blue-gemstone-coveted-by-royalty. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.
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Radford, Benjamin. “Mystery of the Hope Diamond Curse.” LiveScience, 30 Apr. 2014, www.livescience.com/45239-hope-diamond-curse.html. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.
“Top 10 Most Expensive Diamonds 2020.” WP Diamonds, 31 Jan. 2019, www.wpdiamonds.com/top-10-expensive-diamonds/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.