The Hope diamond comes from the Kollur Mine in India. The first owner was Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French merchant traveller, he acquired it in 1660, at that time it was a crudely cut triangular shape and was 115 carats. Legend says that he stole the diamond from a Hindu statue, and a curse was placed on the diamond by the priests who discovered it missing.
Misfortunes with the owners of the Hope Diamond
A guide to owners and misfortunes that happened to them-
- 1668 to King Louis XIV of France, his jeweller cut it to produce a 67 1/8 diamond, it was set in gold and placed on a neck ribbon, which the king wore for ceremonial purposes, it became known as Blue Diamond of the Crown or French Blue. King Louis had the diamond set on a pendent for the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1749. ~died of gangrene. He used to borrow the diamond to Nicholas Fouquet a government official ~he was convicted of embezzlement, and Princess de Lambelle ~beaten to death.
- Louis XVI became king; he gave the diamond to Marie Antoinette. ~both beheaded. They were held in prison during the French Revolution, and it was at this time in 1792 when the diamond was stolen by a small group of robbers. One of them cadet Guillot, took the diamond along with the Gote de Bretagne spinel , first to Le Havre and then to London, to try and sell them,. By 1796 he was heavily in debt and gave the diamond to Lancry de la Loyelle who had him put in prison.
- It is unsure what happened to the diamond after this until it was next recorded being owned by Daniel Eliason a London diamond merchant in 1812
- Henry Philip Hope in 1824; (it was now known as the Hope Diamond) he had it set into a brooch. He would sometimes borrow this to his brother’s wife Louisa Beresford who would were it when she hosted society balls. After Henry died in 1839 his 3 nephews fought for over 10 years on who should inherit the diamond, it was eventually give to Henry Thomas Hope, who put it on display in the The Great Exhibition in London during 1851 and Paris Exhibition Universelle in 1855.
- After his death in 1862 it was inherited through the family, first his wife Adele, then their daughter Henrietta in 1884, she married 6th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Clinton, after their deaths it went to their son Henry Francis Pelham Clinton Hope in 1887, who was not allowed to sell any of the things he had inherited without court permission. In 1984 he married American May Yohe. By 1896 Henry was bankrupt due to his excessive ways, but because it had to wait until the court allowed him to sell the diamond his wife paid for his keep, the permission was granted in 1901, but by this time his wife had left him for Putnam Strong, they divorced in 1902.
- Lord Francis Hope married Olive Muriel Thompson in 1904. They had three children before she died suddenly in 1912, a tragedy that has been attributed to The Curse ~many of the Hope family had financial problems.
- It was sold to Adolf Weil a London merchant for £29.000; he then sold it to US diamond dealer Simon Frankel who took it to New York, at that time its value was $114,032 (£26,206). He sold it to sultan Abdul Hamid in Paris for $400,000. He sold it at auction along with other items to settle his debts
- It was sold to Paris dealer Roseanu for $80,000; he sold it in 1910 to Pierre Cartier for 550,000 francs who re set the stone.
- US socialite Evalyn Walsh Mclean brought it in 1911 and wore it to every social occasion, after her death in 1947 she had willed it to her grandchildren, and left her property in the hand of trustees, but due to her debt they had gained the permission to sell the diamond to settle them ~her son died in a crash, her daughter from suicide, her husband was declared insane and Evalyn herself was addicted to morphine.
- Harry Winston brought the diamond in 1949, who exhibited it in his Court of Jewels, a tour around America and different charity balls. In 1958 for a short while it was exhibited in the Canadian National Exhibition, before being donated to the Smithson Institution. It was first displayed in a glass fronted safe, but after renovations in 1997 it is now housed in its own display on a rotating pedestal in a cylinder with bullet proof glass.
Latest case with Hope Diamond
The most recent examination of the diamond was in 1988 it was described as a fancy dark greyish blue coloured diamond and weighed 45.25 carats. In 1905 the institution published its findings and officially acknowledged that it was part of the stolen French Blue.
Other people where to said to have owned the diamond at some point, but it is unsure as they cannot be verified and varying accounts differ as to whether they did or did not own the hope diamond.
- Frenchman Jaques Colet ~suicide
- Russian prince Ivan Kannitovitsky ~ murder victim
- Simon Montharides ~died when his carriage overturned