 Famous Diamonds
The Hope Diamond now resides in Washington DC's Smithsonian Institute. The
gem has left the building just four times since 1949 |
It took a volcanic eruption nearly one billion years ago to force the gem
– formed 100 miles below ground – to the surface. A French merchant named
Jean Baptiste Tavernier reportedly purchased the 112-carat stone from the
Kollur mine in India and later sold it in 1668 to King Louis XIV of France.
Then just over 67 carats, it was dubbed the "Blue Diamond Of The Crown",
set in gold, and worn as a pendant by the king.
The stone – the largest deep blue diamond known to man – changed hands several
times over the next two centuries, finding its way into the possession of
Henry Philip Hope in the 1830s. In 1909 it wound up with Pierre Cartier,
namesake of the Cartier jewellery fortune, before landing in the States.
Famed jeweller Harry Winston – who also set the Taylor-Burton diamond –
secured the piece in 1949 after purchasing Evalyn Walsh McLean's private
collection. Ten years later he donated the Hope to the Smithsonian. Since
then, it has left the building just four times, famously stopping at the
Louvre in Paris for one month in 1962. |
