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| "Hope Diamond" by David licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
Hope Diamond is a 45 carat dark greyish blue coloured diamond that is considered to be cursed and known to many as the diamond that brought misfortunes and deaths to its owners and some even believe that misfortunes will begin to happen in one's life just by touching this cursed diamond.
Origin of the Hope Diamond
The origin of the hope diamond was most likely from the Kollur mine, in present-day Guntur district, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
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| An Old Maps of Diamond Fields in India |
The hope diamond is one of the famous Golconda Diamonds.
It is estimated that this diamond was formed around one billion years ago. As I mentioned earlier this diamond has a dark blue colour it is due to the trace amount of boron atoms.
The Story and the Curse of the Hope Diamond
It is said that the hope diamond was stolen from an idol in India by a priest and then the diamond came into the hands of the famous French traveller and gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.
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| Jean Baptiste Tavernier |
It is also said that Tavernier himself stole this diamond from a buddha temple in Burma and he killed some Buddhist priests who were guarding the idol of the buddha. Tavernier then went to France with the hope diamond which was 115 carat at that time and he sold the diamond to the then French emperor King Louis XIV (14) in 1668 at a price of more than 200 French Livre (French currency at that time).
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| French Livre (image by National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History) |
As soon as he purchased the hope diamond, it began to be known in names like "Blue Diamond of Crown" and the "French Blue" etc... Then he ordered his crown jeweller named Jean Pitau to recut it and the diamond was recut by the order of the king and it took him two years. Now the 115-carat diamond was recut into 68 grams and King Louis XIV wore it as the pendant of his necklace but not so long after he wore the hope diamond, he was affected by a dangerous disease named Gangrene and he passed away in 1715 September 1 at the age of 76 just 4 days before his 77th birthday which ended his 72 years of reign.
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| King Louis XIV |
Tavernier who stole this diamond sold this to the king got also affected by the curse of this diamond. Tavernier's wealth was looted by his own nephew and it is also said that Tavernier was killed by wild dogs in Russia.
It is also said that Tavernier wasn't affected by the curse of this diamond at all and he led a good life in Russia.
After the death of King Louis the XIV the hope diamond came into the hands of his successor King Louis the XV.
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| "King Louis the XV" by "Jean-Martial Frédou" licensed under (CC BY-SA 4.0) |
King Louis the XV also faced many after possessions misfortunes, in 1757 an assassination attempt took place to take down him but he luckily escaped and he died in 1774 due to smallpox and then the hope diamond came into the hands of the famous King Louis the XVI.
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| King Louis the XVI |
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| Mary Antoniette |
This diamond was found in the royal treasury and by that time there were changes made in the appearance of the hope diamond and it's not known that this diamond ruined how many people's lives in those 2 decades.
During that time the diamond was recut again and a large part of the diamond was sent to King George IV and coincidentally just like Louis the XVI, King George IV was one of the unpopular kings the British history.
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| King George IV |
Shortly after he got this diamond his misfortunes began, due to his unhealthy lifestyle he became extremely obese and he died from gastrointestinal bleeding in 1830. After his death, his family sold the diamond to a famous collector named Henry Philip Hope in order to pay the debts of King George IV.
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| Henry Philip Hope |
Hope diamond also got its name from Henry Philip Hope, but he also died in 1839, just a few years after buying this diamond.
As Henry Philip Hope doesn't have any descendants, his three nephews went to the court case which lasted around a decade in order to get their uncles wealth and at last, the court divided his wealth among his three nephews and hope diamond came into the hands of Henry Thomas Hope, the eldest nephew of Henry Philip Hope and he also died soon and after his death this his wife Anne Adele got this diamond and she also died soon.
After her death, this diamond came into the hands of Lord Francis Hope in 1887 but like always misfortunes came into his life too.
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| Henry Francis Hope |
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| May Yohe |
Lord Francis financially broke just a few years after his marriage due to his addiction to gambling and he had to sell the diamond in order to pay its debt and he sold it to a gem merchant named Adolf Weil and by this time Lord Francis was financially broke and his wife also left him.
Between 1901 and 1910, this diamond had three owners Adolf Weil, Simon Frankel, Sulthan Abdul Hamid of the Ottoman Empire.
Finally, in 1910, the hope diamond came into the hands of Pierre Cartier.
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| Pierre Cartier |
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| Evalyn Walsh Mclean |
After her death, her trustee's sold the diamond to the famous American jeweller Harry Winston in 1949 to pay the debts off.
But for the first time in the history of this diamond, no misfortunes happened in his life and he donates the diamond to the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History in 1958 and the hope diamond is still there.
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