Hope Diamond

  The legends, fact and fiction, surrounding the Hope Diamond make it one of the most revered and recognized diamond in history. The Hope Diamond, in its original rough crystal form of 112 carats, was said to have been offered to the famous French traveler of the 17th century, Jean Baptiste Tavernier. A slave in India approached Tavernier with what appeared to be a large sapphire. Tavernier knew immediately it was a not a sapphire but rather a diamond—the largest deep blue diamond in the world. He purchased the diamond and smuggled it to France where he sold it to King Louis XIV. The diamond was then cut to a pear-shaped 67.50 carat diamond that was known as the French Blue or the Tavernier Blue.

The legends of misfortune of any possessor of the Hope Diamond are numerous. The last known possessor of that era was Marie Antoinette who was guillotined during the French Revolution.

The diamond disappeared for many years. Suddenly in 1830 a steel blue diamond with a different shape and weighing only 44.50 carats appeared on the English market. It was purchased by Henry Thomas Hope, an English banker.

The diamond was passed through many owners, many of which came to ill-fortune contributing to the diamond’s mystic and reputation. It was finally purchased in January 1911 by Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean. She wore the diamond to many of her famous Washington parties. Two years after her death in 1949 Mr. Harry Winston purchased the McLean collection which included not only the Hope Diamond but the Star of the East diamond. Mr. Winston presented the Hope Diamond to the United States, and it is now on display in Washington, D.C. The diamond now resides in a diamond and platinum setting made by Cartier around 1911.