Rare Hope Diamond To Be Re-Set To Celebrate 50 Years At Smithsonian

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The Curse of The Hope Diamond
According
to the legend, a curse befell the large, blue diamond when it was
plucked (i.e. stolen) from an idol in India - a curse that foretold bad
luck and death not only for the owner of the diamond but for all who
touched it.
Whether or not you believe in the curse, the
Hope diamond has intrigued people for centuries. Its perfect quality,
its large size, and its rare color make it strikingly unique and
beautiful. Add to this a varied history which includes being owned by
King Louis XIV, stolen during the French Revolution, sold to earn money
for gambling, worn to raise money for charity, and then finally donated
to the Smithsonian Institution. The Hope diamond is truly unique.
Is there really a curse? Where has the Hope diamond been? Why was such a valuable gem donated to the Smithsonian?
Taken from the Forehead of an Idol
The
legend is said to begin with a theft. Several centuries ago, a man
named Tavernier made a trip to India. While there, he stole a large
blue diamond from the forehead (or eye) of a statue of the Hindu
goddess Sita. For this transgression, according to the legend,
Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs on a trip to Russia (after he had
sold the diamond). This was the first horrible death attributed to the
curse.
How much of this is true? In 1642 a man by the name
of Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweler who traveled extensively,
visited India and bought a 112 3/16 carat blue diamond. (This diamond
was much larger than the present weight of the Hope diamond because the
Hope has been cut down at least twice in the past three centuries.) The
diamond is believed to have come from the Kollur mine in Golconda,
India.
Tavernier continued to travel and arrived back in
France in 1668, twenty-six years after he bought the large, blue
diamond. French King Louis XIV, the "Sun King," ordered Tavernier
presented at court. From Tavernier, Louis XIV bought the large, blue
diamond as well as forty-four large diamonds and 1,122 smaller
diamonds. Tavernier was made a noble and died at he age 84 in Russia
(it is not known how he died).¹
According to Susanne Patch, author of Blue Mystery: The Story of the Hope Diamond, the shape of the diamond was unlikely to have been an eye (or on the forehead) of an idol.²
In
1673, King Louis XIV decided to re-cut the diamond to enhance its
brilliance (the previous cut had been to enhance size and not
brilliance). The newly cut gem was 67 1/8 carats. Louis XIV officially
named it the "Blue Diamond of the Crown" and would often wear the
diamond on a long ribbon around his neck.
In 1749, Louis
XIV's great-grandson, Louis XV, was king and ordered the crown jeweler
to make a decoration for the Order of the Golden Fleece, using the blue
diamond and the Cote de Bretagne (a large red spinel thought at the
time to be a ruby).³ The resulting decoration was extremely ornate and large.
Stolen!
When
Louis XV died, his grandson, Louis XVI, became king with Marie
Antoinette as his queen. According to the legend, Marie Antoinette and
Louis XVI were beheaded during the French Revolution because of the
blue diamond's curse.
Considering that King Louis XIV and
King Louis XV had both owned and worn the blue diamond a number of
times and have not been set down in legend as tormented by the curse,
it is difficult to say that all those who owned or touched the gem
would suffer an ill fate. Though it is true that Marie Antoinette and
Louis XVI were beheaded, it seems that it had much more to do with
their extravagance and the French Revolution than a curse on the
diamond. Plus, these two royals were certainly not the only ones
beheaded during the Reign of Terror.
During the French
Revolution, the crown jewels (including the blue diamond) were taken
from the royal couple after they attempted to flee France in 1791. The
jewels were placed in the Garde-Meuble but were not well guarded.
From
September 12 to September 16, 1791, the Garde-Meuble was repeatedly
robbed, without notice from officials until September 17. Though most
of the crown jewels were soon recovered, the blue diamond was not.
Why is it called the "Hope diamond"?
There is some evidence that the blue diamond resurfaced in London by 1813 and was owned by a jeweler Daniel Eliason by 1823.⁴ No one is sure that the blue diamond in London was the same one stolen
from the Garde-Meuble because the one in London was of a different cut.
Yet, most people feel the rarity and perfectness of the French blue
diamond and the blue diamond that appeared in London makes it likely
that someone re-cut the French blue diamond in the hopes of hiding its
origin. The blue diamond that surfaced in London was estimated at 44
carats.
There is some evidence that shows King George IV
of England bought the blue diamond from Daniel Eliason and upon King
George's death, the diamond was sold to pay off debts.
By
1939, possibly earlier, the blue diamond was in the possession of Henry
Philip Hope, from whom the Hope diamond has taken its name.
The
Hope family is said to have been tainted with the diamond's curse.
According to the legend, the once-rich Hopes went bankrupt because of
the Hope diamond.
Is this true? Henry Philip Hope was one
of the heirs of the banking firm Hope & Co. which was sold in 1813.
Henry Philip Hope became a collector of fine art and gems, thus he
acquired the large blue diamond that was soon to carry his family's
name. Since he had never married, Henry Philip Hope left his estate to
his three nephews when he died in 1839. The Hope diamond went to the
oldest of the nephews, Henry Thomas Hope.
Henry Thomas
Hope married and had one daughter; his daughter soon grew up, married
and had five children. When Henry Thomas Hope died in 1862 at the age
of 54, the Hope diamond stayed in the possession of Hope's widow. But
when Henry Thomas Hope's widow died, she passed the Hope diamond on to
her grandson, the second oldest son, Lord Francis Hope (he took the
name Hope in 1887).
Because of gambling and high spending,
Francis Hope requested from the court in 1898 for him to sell the Hope
diamond (Francis was only given access to the life interest on his
grandmother's estate). His request was denied. In 1899, an appeal case
was heard and again his request was denied. In both cases, Francis
Hope's siblings opposed selling the diamond. In 1901, on an appeal to
the House of Lords, Francis Hope was finally granted permission to sell
the diamond.
As for the curse, three generations of Hopes
went untainted by the curse and it was most likely Francis Hope's
gambling, rather than the curse, that caused his bankruptcy.
The Hope Diamond as a Good Luck Charm
It was Simon Frankel, an American jeweler, who bought the Hope diamond in 1901 and who brought the diamond to the United States.
The diamond changed hands several times during the next several years, ending with Pierre Cartier.
Pierre
Cartier believed he had found a buyer in the rich Evalyn Walsh McLean.
Evalyn first saw the Hope diamond in 1910 while visiting Paris with her
husband. Since Mrs. McLean had previously told Pierre Cartier that
objects usually considered bad luck turned into good luck for her,
Cartier made sure to emphasize the Hope diamond's negative history.
Yet, since Mrs. McLean did not like the diamond in its current
mounting, she didn't buy it.
A few months later, Pierre
Cartier arrived in the U.S. and asked Mrs. McLean to keep the Hope
diamond for the weekend. Having reset the Hope diamond into a new
mounting, Carter hoped she would grow attached to it over the weekend.
He was right and Evalyn McLean bought the Hope diamond.
Susanne
Patch, in her book on the Hope diamond, wonders if perhaps Pierre
Cartier didn't start the concept of a curse. According to Patch's
research, the legend and concept of a curse attached to the diamond did
not appear in print until the twentieth century.⁵
Evalyn
McLean wore the diamond all the time. According to one story, it took a
lot of persuading by Mrs. McLean's doctor to get her to take off the
necklace even for a goiter operation.⁶
Though
Evalyn McLean wore the Hope diamond as a good luck charm, others saw
the curse strike her too. McLean's first born son, Vinson, died in a
car crash when he was only nine. McLean suffered another major loss
when her daughter committed suicide at age 25. In addition to all this,
Evalyn McLean's husband was declared insane and confined to a mental
institution until his death in 1941.
Whether this was part of a curse is hard to say, though it does seem like a lot for one person to suffer.
Though
Evalyn McLean had wanted her jewelry to go to her grandchildren when
they were older, her jewelry was put on sale in 1949, two years after
her death, in order to settle debts from her estate.
The Hope Diamond is Donated
When
the Hope diamond went on sale in 1949, it was bought by Harry Winston,
a New York jeweler. Winston offered the diamond, on numerous occasions,
to be worn at balls to raise money for charity.
Though
some believe that Winston donated the Hope diamond to rid himself of
the curse, Winston donated the diamond because he had long believed in
creating a national jewel collection. Winston donated the Hope diamond
to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 to be the focal point of a newly
established gem collection as well as to inspire others to donate.  It has become the star now of an impressive collection of rare gems.

On
November 10, 1958, the Hope diamond traveled in a plain brown box, by
registered mail, and was met by a large group of people at the
Smithsonian who celebrated its arrival.
The Hope diamond
is currently on display as part of the National Gem and Mineral
Collection in the National Museum of Natural History for all to see.
NOTE:  I saw this diamond several years ago when we visited the D.C. area.  It is so huge it almost looks like a fake.
https://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/a/hopediamond_2.htmNOTE: I saw this diamond several years ago when we visited the D.C. area. It is so huge it almost looks like a fake.