History of the Hope Diamond | Smithsonian National Museum of ...

Search
Image
History of the Hope Diamond
Breadcrumb
1668-1669: Tavernier's Diamond
Three views of the gemstone that would become the Hope Diamond from Les Six Voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier (1676).
King Louis XIV was fond of beautiful and rare gems, especially diamonds. In December of 1668, the explorer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier met with the king to share a collection of diamonds collected on his recently completed trip to India. In February of 1669, King Louis XIV purchased the lot of diamonds, including a large blue diamond weighing 112 3⁄16 old French carats (approximately 115 modern metric carats) for 220,000 livres (Bapst 1889). In recognition of this transaction, the king honored Tavernier with the rank of nobleman (Morel 1988).
It is commonly assumed that Tavernier acquired the diamond on his last journey to India (1664-1668) and that it came from the Kollur Mine of the Golconda region. However, evidence for both source and timing is circumstantial, as Tavernier makes no mention of the acquisition of the diamond in the published accounts of his journeys. The Kollur Mine is considered a likely source because it was known for producing large and colored diamonds (Post and Farges 2014), but there were several diamond mines throughout India during the time of Tavernier’s voyages, and the diamond could have come from any one of them. The diamond must at least have originated in India, as India was the only commercial source of diamonds in Tavernier's time.
Engraving of Jean-Baptise Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) was a French explorer and merchant. He was the first European to describe the diamond mines in India. In 1676, Tavernier published an account of his six journeys to India and Persia from 1631 to 1668 in Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (translated into English in 1678 as The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier). Though Tavernier provided a wealth of information about his travels and work, he did not record the details of his important transactions. It is likely that he did not want to reveal the source and the price of gems that he purchased since that information could negatively affect his business. Unfortunately, this means that little is known about how he acquired the 115-carat blue diamond that he sold to King Louis XIV (Morel 1988).
Portrait of Louis XIV
King Louis XIV (1638-1718) was the ruler of France from 1643 to 1715, an impressive 72 year-long reign that is the longest known for any monarch in European history. An absolute monarch, Louis XIV believed his power as king was bestowed directly from God. He selected the sun to be his personal emblem and became known as the “Sun King.” Louis XIV enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle and is remembered by many as the king who constructed Versailles, a magnificent palace outside of Paris with elaborate décor and expansive grounds.
In India, gems were typically cut to retain size and weight. Tavernier's Blue Diamond was originally cut to an asymmetric, somewhat triangular shape, likely following this fashion. To preserve the weight and size of the diamond, gem cutters polished its natural faces without attempting to enhance its sparkle or obtain a geometric shape (Morel 1988). It is not known if the diamond was cut in India by Indian cutters or if it was cut elsewhere in the Indian style.
A carat is a unit of mass, originally based on the weight of a carob seed, which naturally vary in size and weight. In 1913, in an attempt to standardize the carat, the United States adopted the “metric carat,” equivalent to 200 mg or 0.200 g. The weight of diamonds, and all other gemstones, is now based on the metric carat. The carat weights familiar from jewelry stores are, in fact, metric carats.
Older sources often give gem weights in archaic units. For example, the weight of Tavernier's Diamond was 112 3⁄16 old French carats (a unit similar to but slightly smaller than a metric carat), and the weight of the blue diamond described in the Francillon Memo was 177 grains (one grain is approximately one-third of a metric carat).
The accepted metric carat weights of the Hope Diamond and its precusor stones are as follows:
Tavernier's Diamond: ~115 carats
French Blue Diamond: ~69 carats
Hope Diamond: 45.52 carats
1669-1672: Cutting the French Blue
A photorealistic computer rendering of the French Blue showing the golden star that appeared when the diamond was mounted on gold (Farges et al. 2012)
King Louis XIV ordered one of his court jewelers, Jean Pittan the Younger, to supervise the recutting of the 115-carat blue diamond. The king likely ordered the stone recut because of differences between Indian and European tastes in diamonds: Indian gems were cut to retain size and weight, while Europeans prized luster, symmetry and brilliance. It is not known who actually cut the diamond, but the job took about two years to complete. The result was an approximately 69-carat heart-shaped diamond referred to as “the great violet diamond of His Majesty” in the historic royal archives. At that time, “violet” meant a shade of blue. Today, the diamond is most commonly known as the “French Blue” (Post and Farges 2014).
An inventory of the French Crown Jewels from 1691 reveals that the French Blue was “set into gold and mounted on a stick.” In 2012, a computer simulation revealed that eight central facets on the pavilion of the French Blue were cut so as to be visible when one looked through the face of the gem (Farges et al. 2012). When the stone was set in gold, the effect would be the appearance of a gold sun in the center of the blue diamond. Post and Farges (2014) proposed that the stone was cut this way to show the colors of the French monarchy, blue and gold, symbolizing the divine standing and power of King Louis XIV, the Sun King. The diamond was not worn as a piece of jewelry or kept with the French Crown Jewels, but rather was stored in the King’s cabinet of curiosities at Versailles, where he could show it to special guests.
1749: The Order of the Golden Fleece
A color illustration of the Emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Pierre-André Jacqumin. The emblem contained several spectacular gems, including the French Blue diamond and the Côte de Bretagne spinel.
Louis XIV's great-grandson, Louis XV, inherited the royal jewels when he ascended to the throne. Around 1749, King Louis XV tasked the Parisian jeweler Pierre-André Jacqumin with creating an emblem of knighthood of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The finished emblem featured a number of spectacular gems, including the French Blue Diamond, the 107-carat Côte de Bretagne spinel (carved into the shape of a dragon and originally thought to be a ruby), and several other diamonds. It was rarely worn, functioning instead as a symbol of the king's power (Post and Farges 2014).
1748 portrait of King Louis XV by Maurice de la Tour
Louis XV (1710-1774) succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV as king of France in 1715, at the age of five. Louis XV was popular during the early years of his reign, earning the nickname “Louis the Well-Beloved.” However, his popularity did not last, and by the time of his death in 1774 he had fallen out of favor with the French people. His reign, like that of Louis XIV, was marked by a series of wars that required enormous spending to maintain France’s position in Europe. This unconstrained fiscal policy in part set the stage for the French Revolution, which would bring down the monarchy 15 years after his death.
1791: The Capture of Louis XVI
The return of the royal family to Paris on June 25th, 1791. Engraving by Jean Duplessis-Bertaux after a drawing by Jean-Louis Prieur.
Amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to escape France, but were apprehended and returned to Paris. The French Crown Jewels, including the French Blue Diamond in the Order of the Golden Fleece, were turned over to the revolutionary government and moved to the Garde-Meuble, the Royal Storehouse, where they were put on view for the public once a week until 1792. On visiting days, the doors of the armoires would be opened and a selection of mounted and unmounted jewels could be viewed in special display cases.
In 1774, at the age of 20, Louis XVI (1754-1793) inherited the throne and a government entrenched in debt after the death of his grandfather, King Louis XV. Louis XVI was unable to bring about the social, economic, and political changes necessary to solve the problems of the country and preserve the French monarchy. Louis XVI was married to Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), a queen infamous for her frivolous spending habits during a time of economic struggle. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to flee the country during the French Revolution in 1791. They were recaptured and were executed in 1793 for committing treason against the new government of France.
1767 portrait of Marie Antoinette by Martin van Meytens from the collection of the Schönbrunn Palace
It is highly unlikely that Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, or anyone else in the French Royal family ever wore the French Blue. At the time, the diamond was set within the elaborate Order of the Golden Fleece emblem, which functioned not as a traditional piece of jewelry but rather served as a symbol of the king’s power (Post and Farges 2014).
1792: The Theft of the French Crown Jewels
The Garde-Meuble and the Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde). Adapted from photo by Jean-Luc Paillé (Licence Ouverte 1.0).
On the night of September 11th, 1792, a group of thieves climbed through the first-floor windows of the Garde-Meuble into the room where the French Crown Jewels were stored and escaped with some of the jewels. At the time, no one in the storehouse even realized that a theft had taken place: The seal on the door to the room had not been broken, and no guards were stationed inside of the room. The thieves returned over the following nights to steal more of the jewels. By the evening of September 17th, the group of thieves had grown to about fifty. Acting loudly and carelessly, they attracted the attention of the patrol, putting an end to one of the most curious thefts in history (Morel 1988).
By then, the Order of the Golden Fleece was gone. The French Blue Diamond has not been seen since.
The various political factions in France in 1792 blamed each other for the theft of the French Crown Jewels. One of the more popular theories of the time alleged that Georges-Jacques Danton, a member of the French Convention Nationale, hired thieves to carry out the theft in order to purchase the withdrawal of the Duke of Brunswick's army from France. Though there was no proof of Danton's involvement, the theory gained wide support because it coincided with the opinion of Napoleon, who could not understand why the allied armies would retreat unless a secret deal was involved.
Historians have concluded that Danton was probably not involved with the theft. In 1889, Germaine Bapst argued in the Histoire des joyaux de la couronne that the culprits were bands of vagrants who were encouraged by the lack of order in the national guard and had no connection to any of the political factions of the French Revolution (Morel 1988).
A replica of the Golden Fleece in the room in the Garde-Meuble from which the French Crown jewels were taken. Photo by François Farges used with permission.
During the French Revolution, the French Crown Jewels were stored in the Garde-Meuble, the Royal Storehouse. The room where the jewels were stored was sealed and nominally under guard. A shift system was organized to rotate the guards daily.
The security arrangement was critically flawed. The shift system eventually fell apart, leaving the room unguarded on many occasions. The seal on the door, intended to alert guards to a break-in, also prevented them from patrolling inside the room. Moreover, it only protected the room from someone already inside the Garde-Meuble. The thieves that made off with the crown jewels entered instead by the unbarred windows (Morel 1988).
Most of the stolen gems did not make it out of France. The Order of the Golden Fleece, however, was carried to London by one of the more fortunate thieves, Cadet Guillot Lordonner (Bapst 1889). The two most prominent stones in the emblem, the French Blue Diamond and the Côte de Bretagne spinel, would both eventually turn up in London. The Côte de Bretagne surfaced there in 1797 before rejoining the French Crown Jewels in 1824. The French Blue appeared in London much later, in 1812, although by then it had been recut to a smaller stone.
1812: A blue diamond appears in London
Part of a page from the Francillon Memo, dated September 19, 1812, with a drawing of what appears to be the Hope Diamond.
It is now clear that the French Blue resurfaced in London nearly 20 years later, although no one seems to have recognized it at the time. It had by then been recut to a smaller (though still spectacular) gem, which we know today as the Hope Diamond.
The first reference to this diamond is a sketch and description made in 1812 by the London jeweler John Francillon:
The above drawing is the exact size and shape of a very curious superfine deep blue Diamond. Brilliant cut, and equal to a fine deep blue Sapphire. It is beauty full and all perfection without specks or flaws, and the color even and perfect all over the Diamond. I traced it round the diamond with a pencil by leave of Mr. Daniel Eliason and it is as finely cut as I have ever seen in a Diamond. The color of the Drawing is as near the color of the Diamond as possible.
Francillon does not mention where the diamond came from or who had cut it, nor does he connect it to the French Blue.
Intriguingly, the Francillon Memo is dated just two days after the twenty-year statute of limitations for crimes committed during the French Revolution had passed. The diamond may have resurfaced at this time because the possibility of prosecution and of France reclaiming the diamond was eliminated, making the owner comfortable enough to share the diamond with others (Winters and White 1991).
In Exotic Mineralogy, James Sowerby provides the following description of the French Blue: "a sky-blue [diamond], among the crown jewels of France, weighing 67 carats and two sixteenths” (Sowerby 1817). In his next sentence, he mentions another diamond, also blue, also quite large, that was at that time owned by a man named Daniel Eliason. We know now that Eliason's diamond (which will later be known as the Hope) was cut from the French Blue, but Sowerby makes no connection between the two diamonds.
By 1817, when Sowerby's book was published, twenty-five years had passed since the theft of the French Crown Jewels. Over forty years more passed before anyone published about a possible connection between the French Blue and the Hope Diamond. Why did it take so long for experts to link them? One possibility is that the theft itself was not widely known in Sowerby's time. It is likely that the individuals in charge of protecting the gems did not want the theft to be widely reported since this would advertise their failure and damage their reputation. In addition, the robbery occurred in a time before mass communication existed, when media was limited and functioned much differently than it does today. The theft of the crown jewels of France may thus not have been widely reported, explaining why Sowerby and others in London did not suspect a link between the two diamonds (Post and Farges 2014).
George F. Kunz, a prominent American mineralogist active around the turn of the twentieth century, found the Francillon Memo tucked into a 1768 book about the French Crown Jewels in a London bookshop (Kurin 2006). The book and memo were later donated to the USGS, where Smithsonian researchers rediscovered them.
The text of the memo is as follows:
Weight 177 grains.
The above drawing is the exact size and shape of a very curious superfine deep blue Diamond, Brilliant cut, and equal to a fine deep blue Sapphire. It is beauty full and all perfection, without specks or flaws, and the Color even and perfect all over the Diamond.
I traced it round the Diamond with a pencil [by leave of Mr Daniel Eliason], and it is as finely cut as I have ever seen a diamond.
The color of the Drawing is as near the color of the Diamond as possible.
1813-1823: Mr. Eliason's Diamond
Plate an 1823 book by John Maw showing several unusual diamonds, including the Hope Diamond
Several other British naturalists and gem experts made note of a large blue diamond in London in the years following Francillon's memo. In the 1813 and 1815 editions of his book, A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones, mineralogist and gem connoisseur John Mawe writes that “there is at this time a superlatively fine blue diamond, of above 44 carats, in possession of an individual in London, which may be considered as matchless, and of course of arbitrary value.” Similarly, James Sowerby, a naturalist known for his illustrations of minerals and other objects, wrote that “Daniel Eliason, Esq. has in London, a nearly perfect blue Brilliant, of 44½ carats, that is superior to any other coloured diamond known” (Sowerby 1817).
By 1823, the diamond was no longer in Eliason's possession. Mawe returned to the subject of the blue diamond in the 1823 edition of his book, writing that:
A superlatively fine blue diamond weighing 44 carats and valued at £30,000, formerly the property of Mr. Eliason, an eminent diamond merchant, is now said to be in the possession of our most gracious sovereign… The unrivaled gem is of a deep sapphire blue, and from its rarity and color, might have been estimated at a higher sum. It has found its most worthy destination in passing into the possession of a monarch, whose refined taste has ever been conspicuous in the highest degree” (Mawe 1823)
According to Mawe, then, Eliason had parted with the diamond and it had come into the possession of George IV, the King of England. However, no evidence linking the Hope Diamond to the king has been found in the British royal archives, and we do not know whether George IV ever possessed it as either owner or borrower (Post and Farges 2014).
1839: Henry Philip Hope's gem collection
Philip Hope (1774-1839) was a wealthy British banker with an affinity for fine art and precious gems. An 1839 catalogue of his gem collection mentions a large blue diamond weighing 45.5 carats. The diamond would take his name, becoming known as “Hope’s Diamond” or the “Hope Diamond.” The catalogue describes the diamond as “a most magnificent and rare brilliant, of a deep sapphire blue, of the greatest purity, and most beautifully cut” (Hertz 1839). It was set in a medallion with smaller, rose-cut, colorless diamonds surrounding it and a pearl that dropped from the bottom of the medallion as a pendant. Unfortunately, Hope does not record when or where he acquired the diamond in his 1839 catalogue.
Henry Philip Hope died in 1839, leaving his possessions to his three nephews: Henry Thomas, Adrian, and Alexander. In his will, Henry Philip Hope divided his money and property amongst the brothers, but did not leave instructions for the division of his gem collection. Given the immense value of his collection, the Hope brothers argued for years over who would inherit it. In 1849, after ten years of dispute, the brothers reached an agreement: the property went to Adrian, the Hope Pearl and around 700 precious gemstones went to Alexander, and the Hope Diamond and seven other gems went to Henry Thomas (Kurin 2006).
1851: The Great London Exhibition
Illustration of the Crystal Palace from Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851, published 1854. The Crystal Palace, designed by architect Joseph Paxton, was 1,848 feet long and 484 feet wide.
Henry Thomas Hope loaned the Hope Diamond for display at the Crystal Palace during the Great London Exhibition. According to a catalogue from the exhibition, 28 diamonds from the Henry Philip Hope Collection were exhibited. This suggests that the brother of Henry Thomas, Alexander, must have contributed diamonds to the display effort since Henry Thomas had only inherited eight gems from his uncle and Alexander had inherited the rest (Kurin 2006).
The Great London Exhibition, officially called the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, was held from May to October 1851. It brought together displays of the latest inventions in science and technology as well as craftwork, fine art, and gems from around the world. The exhibition was envisioned and organized by inventor Henry Cole and Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, and was held in an iron and glass building called the Crystal Palace that was constructed specifically for the event. In total, the Great London Exhibition of 1851 attracted some six million visitors in the five months that it was open.
1852: The French Blue Connection
Computer models depicting the history of the Hope Diamond, including (counterclockwise from top) the Tavernier, the French Blue, and the Hope Diamond. Image by Stephen Attaway.
Today, we are certain that the Hope Diamond is the recut French Blue. However, it took 46 years after Francillon described the modern Hope for someone to connect the two diamonds. The French gemologist Charles Barbot was first, speculating in his 1858 book, Traité Complet de Pierres Précieuses, that the Hope Diamond was cut from the French Blue (Post and Farges 2014).
Later authors continued in this track. In 1870, Charles W. King wrote about a likely connection between the two blue diamonds in his book, The Natural History of the Precious Stones and of the Precious Metals. On the subject of “Hope’s Blue Diamond” King writes “suspected to be that of the French Regalia (stolen in 1792), and then weighing 67 car., and afterwards re-cut as a brilliant to its present weight of 44½ carat.”
In 1882, Edwin Streeter wrote about the diamond’s provenance in his book, The Great Diamonds of the World: Their History and Romance:
The disappearance of Tavernier’s rough blue from the French regalia, followed by the unexplained appearance of a cut gem of precisely the same delicate blue tint, and answering in size to the original after due allowance made for loss in cutting, leaves little or no room for doubting the identity of the two stones… It thus appears that the rough un-cut Tavernier, the French “Blue,” lost in 1792, and the “Hope,” are one and the same stone. (Streeter 1882, p. 214).
The Hope Diamond next to the lead cast of the French Blue recently found in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Photo by François Farges.
Today, we are confident that the Hope was cut from the French Blue following its theft from the Garde-Meuble in 1792. Two key pieces of evidence connecting the French Blue and the Hope include:
The Hope Diamond first surfaced in its current form in 1812, just two days after the statute of limitations on crimes committed during the French Revolution expired. This new diamond had no history prior to that time (Post and Farges 2014).
A lead cast of the French Blue Diamond was discovered at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris in 2007. Computer modeling studies based on the dimensions of the cast showed that the Hope Diamond could have been cut from the French Blue (Farges et al. 2009).
1887: The extravagant life of Lord Francis Hope
Henry Thomas Hope left his possessions, including the Hope Diamond, to his wife Anne Adéle Hope when he passed away in 1862. Anne, in turn, decided to leave the family treasures not to her daughter, Henrietta (whose husband was careless with money and often on the verge of bankruptcy) but to her grandson, Francis Hope. In her 1876 will, Anne named Francis as heir to the family treasures, stipulating that the estates and heirlooms were to be used during his lifetime and then passed on to another Hope descendant. Anne passed away in 1884, and Francis Hope claimed his inheritance when he turned 21, three years later (Kurin 2006).
Lord Francis Hope was less prudent than his grandmother might have hoped. He lived extravagantly, quickly spending his inheritance on traveling, entertainment, and gambling and sinking into tremendous debt. In 1892, he met a showgirl in New York City named May Yohé, a glamorous and charming actress from Pennsylvania. Hope and Yohé married in 1894 and continued to live well beyond their means. To avoid bankruptcy, Hope appealed to his relatives for permission to sell a portion of the family art collection, claiming that he could no longer afford to care for the paintings. After years of litigation, the family finally agreed to allow Hope to sell a selection of the paintings, but the sale was not enough to save him from financial crisis. In 1901, after more litigation with his family, Lord Francis offered the Hope Diamond for sale (Patch 1999).
A matte bromide postcard print of May Yohé from the 1890s from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG Ax160350; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
A successful actress known for being impulsive, charming, and optimistic, May Yohé married Lord Francis Hope in 1894. Her life thereafter was plagued with personal and financial problems. She and Lord Francis lived well beyond their means and fell into extreme debt. Their marriage ended in 1902 due to Yohé's misconduct with Captain Putnam Bradlee Strong, who she in turn married and then divorced that same year.
Did May Yohé ever wear the Hope Diamond? The answer depends on whom you ask. For her part, Yohé claimed that she had worn the Hope Diamond on multiple occasions. For example, she wrote that she once wore the Hope Diamond to a dinner party in London hosted by Lord Alfred Rothschild, where she enjoyed the attention of everyone in attendance, even speaking with Edward, the Prince of Wales. Lord Francis, however, denied allowing anyone to wear the diamond, stating that, “I became the owner of the stone in 1887 and from that year until I sold it in 1901 it was never worn by any one” (Kurin 2006).
Whatever the case may be, Yohé tried to exploit her association with the Hope Diamond throughout her life. In 1912, hoping to make a comeback as an actress, she performed in Little Christopher Columbus in London wearing a copy of the Hope Diamond necklace for the first time (mounted in a replica of the necklace made by Cartier for the next private owner, Evalyn Walsh Mclean in 1911). In 1921, Yohé helped write a book and film about the curse of the Hope Diamond, blaming it for her failed marriages, financial ruin, and life of hardship (Kurin 2006).
1901-1907: Crossing the Atlantic
Colored postcard showing the Kronprinz Wilhelm, the German trans-Atlantic passenger liner that Simon Frankel used to transport the Hope Diamond back to New York with him in 1901. Source: NH 97667-KN, U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.
In 1901, Lord Francis Hope sold the Hope Diamond to London diamond merchant Adolf Weil, who sold the diamond to Joseph Frankel's Sons & Co. of New York shortly thereafter. Simon Frankel sailed to London from New York to finalize the purchase. One source reported that Frankel paid $250,000 (~6.7 million 2014 dollars) for the diamond (Patch 1999).
Frankel brought the Hope Diamond back to New York to try to sell it in America, but received no reasonable offers. By 1907, the market for diamonds had sharply declined due to a slow economy, and Frankel's company faced the possibility of bankruptcy (Kurin 2006). The Hope Diamond sat locked away in a New York safe deposit box while Frankel tried to find a buyer.
1908-1909: Selim Habib and Rumors of a Curse
Façade of the Hotel Drouot Auction House in Paris, France circa 1852
Joseph Frankel's Sons & Co. finally found a buyer for the Hope Diamond in 1908: Selim Habib, a Turkish diamond collector and merchant who purchased the Hope Diamond for a reported $200,000 (~5 million 2014 dollars). According to the New York Times, Selim Habib soon had financial troubles, and in 1909, he sold his gem collection, including the Hope Diamond (Kurin, 2006). His financial difficulties and a later, incorrect report of his death at sea contributed to the growing myth of a curse on the Hope Diamond.
Habib's collection was put up for auction at the Hotel Drouot in Paris, France on June 24, 1909. Jeweler and gem expert Louis Aucoc oversaw the auction, withdrawing the Hope Diamond from the sale before selling it to jeweler C. N. Rosenau for 400,000 francs (Kurin 2006).
A list of misfortunes associated with the Hope Diamond from May Yohé's account of the curse. The list is wildly inaccurate, but representative of the stories swirling around the Hope in the early 1900s.
Is the Hope Diamond cursed? Of course not! But where did such a story originate? The story of a curse is a recent part of the diamond’s history, apparently having its origins in the early 20th century. One early account appeared in the Washington Post on January 19, 1908 in the article “Remarkable Jewel a Hoodoo—Hope Diamond Has Brought Trouble to All Who Have Owned It.” The article began: "Deep behind the double locked doors hides the Hope diamond. Snug and secure behind time lock and bolt, it rests in its cotton wool nest under many wrappings, in the great vault of the great house of Frankel. Yet not all the locks and bolts and doors ever made by man can ward off its baleful power or screen from its venom those against whom its malign force may be directed" (Washington Post 1908).
The author of the article presents a selective history of the Hope Diamond, sketching out the unlucky histories of former owners of the gem, beginning with Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and continuing through recent owners, including Lord Francis Hope and Simon Frankel, who suffered personally and financially after acquiring the Hope (Kurin 2006). Later accounts of the curse follow a similar pattern.
Several of those who contributed to the rumors of a curse could be accused of doing so for their own gain. Pierre Cartier, for example, likely embellished the stories as a sales tactic when he was trying to sell the Hope Diamond to Ned and Evalyn Walsh McLean. May Yohé, who was once married to Lord Francis Hope, offered her own account of the curse in a book and film released in 1921. In addition to sensationalizing other accounts of misfortune, she claimed the Hope Diamond was the cause of her failed marriage and the loss of the Hope family fortune (Gates 1921). Pieces of her elaborate tale were picked up by newspapers, helping establish the curse of the Hope Diamond as a popular modern legend.
Selim Habib owned the Hope Diamond at a time when stories of a curse on the diamond were becoming popular. His own misfortunes provided fodder for these stories, perhaps no more so than when, on November 17, 1909, the New York Times reported that Habib had been killed in a shipwreck: "Selim Habib, a wealthy Turkish diamond collector and merchant, who formerly owned the famous blue Hope Diamond, was among the passengers drowned in the wreck of the French mail steamer Seyne at Singapore. This adds another to the list of misfortunes associated with the ownership of the famous gem. It is reported that he had the diamond with him" (NYT 1909).
This report was wildly inaccurate. Neither Habib nor the Hope Diamond were on the steamer when it sank (although another man named Selim Habib did apparently drown in the shipwreck). In fact, Habib no longer even owned the Hope Diamond at the time of the shipwreck, having sold it in June of 1909.
1910: Cartier acquires the Hope Diamond
Pierre Cartier with his wife and daughter. Photo from the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-124396).
Cartier, a French jewelery house, purchased the Hope Diamond from jeweler C.N. Rosenau in 1910. The Hope Diamond arrived in the U.S. on November 23, 1910, where it was valued at $110,000 for customs plus the $10,000 duty for an unmounted gem (Patch 1999).
Pierre Cartier took on the responsibility of selling the Hope Diamond. Pierre was a talented salesman: Charming, smooth-talking, and sophisticated, he was experienced in the art of selling to wealthy customers, Americans in particular, having worked at Cartier's New York office.
By this time, the art of developing colorful narratives for famous gems was already well established. Intriguing histories helped with gem sales, and in turn, gave the purchaser an interesting tale to tell admirers at various events. Cartier thus began to fabricate a fanciful story around the Hope Diamond that included a curse, which he would pitch to potential buyers (Kurin 2006).
Alfred Cartier (second from right) is joined by his three sons, Jacques, Louis, and Pierre in 1910
Though Pierre Cartier (1878-1964) is perhaps the most well-known member of the Cartier family, his brothers Jacques and Louis also played integral roles in the success of their family jewelry business.
Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-Francois Cartier, the grandfather of Louis, Pierre, and Jacques. The company took off in 1898 when Louis, the eldest of the three brothers, joined his father, Alfred, in the family business. Louis (1875-1942) traveled extensively through the Middle East and India to conduct business for the company and to study the cultures of these regions. Louis and his brothers were especially influenced by Indian designs, using them often in jewelry pieces such as tiaras and aigrettes.
Cartier opened a London branch in 1902 and began introducing avant-garde designs in jewelry that combined Oriental and Art Deco styles, as well as dealing in large, historically significant diamonds and emeralds. Their clientele included royalty from many countries and a growing number of wealthy Americans, such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Evalyn Walsh McLean, leading to the opening of the New York branch office in 1909 (Kurin 2006).
1912: The McLeans buy the Hope Diamond
Evalyn Walsh McLean wearing the Hope Diamond as a pendant on a diamond necklace. Photo by Harris and Ewing from the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-71454).
In 1912, Pierre Cartier sold the Hope Diamond to an American couple, Ned and Evalyn Walsh McLean. The sale was the result of two years of work.
Pierre identified the McLeans as potential buyers shortly after Cartier purchased the Hope Diamond. Both Evalyn and Ned were heirs to American fortunes, Evalyn's from mining and Ned's from newspapers. They were previous, big-spending clients of Cartier, having purchased the 94.8-carat Star of the East Diamond from Cartier in 1908 while they were on their honeymoon. Pierre arranged to meet with them in 1910 while they were on vacation in Paris. He presented his embellished tale of the Hope Diamond’s extraordinary provenance to the McLeans, including the curse that brought bad luck to all who owned it. Evalyn was fascinated with the story and told Pierre that she believed objects that brought bad luck to others would bring good luck to her. Despite her interest, she initially declined to purchase the blue diamond because she did not like its setting (McLean 1936).
Pierre, a persistent man, did not let an old-fashioned setting prevent him from securing the sale. He took the Hope Diamond to New York, where he had it reset into a contemporary mounting. In the new mounting (essentially the same mounting it is in today), the Hope was framed by 16 colorless diamonds and could be worn as part of a head ornament or a diamond necklace. Pierre returned to Washington and left the newly set Hope with Evalyn and Ned over a weekend.
Pierre's strategy was successful—Evalyn adored the Hope Diamond, and several months later agreed to purchase it from Cartier, settling on a price of $180,000 (Patch 1999) plus the return of an emerald and pearl pendant with diamond necklace that she no longer wanted (McLean 1936). The Hope Diamond became Evalyn Walsh McLean’s signature in the high society of Washington, D.C. She wore it frequently, layered with her other important gems and jewelry, to events and the lavish parties she hosted. Evalyn would even let her Great Dane, Mike, wear the Hope Diamond on his collar.
1947: Evalyn Walsh McLean Passes Away
Seventy-four pieces of Evalyn Walsh McLean’s jewelry purchased by Harry Winston, Inc., including the Hope Diamond (upper left) and the Star of the East Diamond (upper right). Photo by N.W. Ayer & Son.
Evalyn Walsh McLean died from pneumonia on April 26, 1947. She dictated in her will that all of her jewelry be held in trust until her youngest grandchild turned twenty-five, at which point her jewels were to be divided equally by all of her grandchildren. Two years after her death, however, the court ordered the sale of her jewelry collection to pay off debts and claims against her estate (Patch 1999). The Hope Diamond, the Star of the East Diamond, and the rest of her jewelry collection were purchased by jeweler Harry Winston of New York.
Evalyn Walsh McLean wearing the Hope Diamond as a pendant on a diamond necklace. Photo by Harris & Ewing from the collection of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-71454).
Evalyn Walsh McLean (1886-1947) came from humble roots. Her father, Thomas F. Walsh, was a gold miner in Colorado who had moved to America from Ireland in 1869. Her mother, Carrie Bell Reed, was the daughter of a school teacher. Evalyn’s early years were somewhat unstable—she moved frequently due to her father’s job, living in hotels and miner’s shacks. In 1896, when Evalyn was ten, her life changed completely when her father found gold at the Camp Bird gold mine in Colorado. Her family became exceedingly wealthy and moved to Washington, D. C. in 1897, where she met Ned McLean, heir to a newspaper and railway fortune. In 1908, they married, both at the age of 22, and traveled to Europe for their honeymoon. There, they purchased the Star of the East Diamond from Cartier (McLean 1936).
Ned McClean and Evalyn Walsh with dog in 1912. Photo by Harris & Ewing from the collection of the Library of Congress (LC-DIG-hec-00952).
Over time, Evalyn Walsh McLean and the Hope Diamond became nearly inseparable. Evalyn did not believe that the stone would bring her bad luck. Unfortunately, tragedy did strike Evalyn multiple times throughout her life. In 1919, her eldest son Vinson was hit by a car and killed in front of their estate at the age of nine. Her husband Ned drank heavily, took on a mistress, and was eventually declared insane. In 1946, Evalyn’s only daughter, Evalyn McLean Reynolds, died of a drug overdose at age twenty-five. Evalyn never fully recovered from this loss and died shortly thereafter of pneumonia (Patch 1999).
1949-1958: Harry Winston and the Court of Jewels
Portrait of Harry Winston. Photo by Alfred Eisenstadt.
In 1949, Harry Winston purchased the Hope Diamond along with the rest of the Evalyn Walsh McLean's jewelry collection. Winston incorporated McLean's jewelry into the Court of Jewels, a traveling exhibition of gems supplemented by a jewelry fashion show. Large and famous diamonds, including the Hope Diamond, the Star of the East Diamond, and the 127-carat Portuguese Diamond (now also part of the Smithsonian’s collection), were featured as part of the show. The exhibit traveled throughout America from 1949 to 1953 to teach the public about precious gems and raise money for civic and charitable organizations (Harry Winston, Inc.). Harry Winston once stated: “I want the public to know more about precious gems. With so much expensive junk jewelry around these days, people forget that a good diamond, ruby, or emerald, however small, is a possession to be prized for generations” (Tupper and Tupper 1947).
Brochure for Harry Winston's Court of Jewels featuring the Hope and Star of the East diamonds
Harry Winston (1896-1978) was born into a family with a modest jewelry business in New York City. His mother died when he was seven years old, and his father eventually moved the family to California to open a jewelry store in Los Angeles. Harry dropped out of school at the age of 15 to assist with the family business. He was able to save up enough money to move back to New York and open his own wholesale company. He became involved in purchasing and reselling antique and estate jewelry for profit and by 1932 had earned enough to establish Harry Winston, Inc. In 1933, Harry married Edna Fleishman, who eventually became involved in his business.
Winston was passionate about diamonds and gemstones, devoting his life and career to them. A patriotic citizen, Winston believed that the United States deserved a major national gem collection. Winston began a conversation with the Smithsonian Institution about building such a collection, eventually donating the Hope Diamond and other impressive gems. Winston thought that the Hope could serve as a focal point for the national gem collection, stimulating additional donations (Patch 1999).
1958: The Hope Diamond comes to the Smithsonian
The U. S. National Museum (later renamed the National Museum of Natural History) as it appeared in 1917. Photo from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SIA2009-2203).
In 1958, Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution. On November 10th, the Hope arrived at the Smithsonian in a plain brown package shipped by registered mail (and insured for a sum of one million dollars). Mrs. Harry Winston presented the Hope Diamond to Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian, and Dr. George S. Switzer, Curator of Mineralogy. The Hope Diamond was exhibited in the Gem Hall at the National Museum of Natural History and almost immediately became its premier attraction.
1962: A visit to France
The Louvre in Paris. Photo by King of Hearts from the Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
With the encouragement of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the Hope Diamond was loaned for a month to the Louvre Museum for the exhibition “Ten Centuries of French Jewels.” It was displayed with two famous diamonds, the Regent (a 140.50-carat brilliant cushion cut diamond) and the Sancy (a pale yellow 55.23-carat pear-shaped diamond). Also on display was the Côte de Bretagne, a red spinel carved in the shape of a dragon that, along with the French Blue Diamond, had been part of Louis XV's elaborate emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This exhibition marked the reunion of these two gems after 170 years. In return, the Louvre’s masterpiece, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, was loaned to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from January 8 to February 3, 1963.
1965: At the Rand Easter Show in South Africa
Hope Diamond mounted in a spiderweb in a rose bush for the Rand Easter Show in South Africa in 1965. Photo from the Smithsonian Institution.
The Hope Diamond was loaned to DeBeers and traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa for the Rand Easter Show, one of the largest consumer exhibitions in the world. The Hope Diamond was the main attraction in the jewel box in the Diamond Pavilion. Surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, it was exhibited on a finely woven spider’s web supported by the bare branches of a rose bush and illuminated from above.
1982: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Photo by Eric Baetscher from the Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 US).
In November 1982, Ronald Winston, son of Harry Winston, hosted 1,200 guests in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Engelhard Court. (Kurin 2006) For the glittering gala, the Hope Diamond was reunited with the Star of the East (a 94.80-carat pear-shaped diamond previously owned by Evalyn Walsh McLean) and the Idol’s Eye (a 70.21-carat rounded pear-shape diamond exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in 1965).
1997: The new Harry Winston Gallery
The Harry Winston Gallery in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems & Minerals at the National Museum of Natural History. Photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution (97-36231).
The Hope Diamond was put on display in the Harry Winston Gallery of the newly completed Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in the National Museum of Natural History. The diamond is mounted on a rotating pedestal so that it can be viewed from all four sides of the vault.
2009-2010: Celebrating 50 years at the Smithsonian
The Hope Diamond in the Embracing Hope necklace. The platinum necklace features 340 baguette diamonds.
In September 2009, the Hope Diamond was removed from its setting and exhibited unmounted for the first time ever. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, an online contest was used to select a commemorative necklace from one of three designs submitted by Harry Winston, Inc. The winning entry, "Embracing Hope", was designed by Maurice Galli. This modern design consisted of three-dimensional ribbons set with baguette-cut diamonds wrapping the Hope Diamond in an exquisite embrace. The Hope Diamond was set in the Embracing Hope necklace and displayed for over a year before being returned to its original Cartier mounting.
The Hope Diamond today
Today, the Hope Diamond remains one of the most popular objects at the Smithsonian, attracting millions of visitors every year. Even now, the Hope retains much of its mystery, and Smithsonian scientists continue to study it to better understand its eventful history and rare beauty.
Mawe, J., 1813. A treatise on diamonds and precious stones, including their history-natural and commerical: to which are added, the best methods of cutting and polishing them. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. [Full Text]
Mawe, J., 1815. A treatise on diamonds and precious stones, including their history-natural and commerical: to which are added, the best methods of cutting and polishing them, 2nd ed. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. [Full Text]
Mawe, J., 1823. A treatise on diamonds and precious stones, including their history-natural and commerical: to which are added, the best methods of cutting and polishing them, 2nd ed. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. [Full Text]