| This 45.52 carat dark-blue stone is undoubtedly one of the world's most famous diamonds, with a history heavily veiled by superstition. The legend unfolds in 1642 in Southwest India, where Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French adventurer and gem merchant was shown a rough blue diamond of 112.50 carats. The stone is supposed to have been "the Eye of Shiva" and to have been stolen. This is the reason for the "bad luck."
Several of its owners died tragically such as:
- Louis XIV died from smallpox
- Countess Du Barry was beheaded during the French Revolution
- Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette were beheaded during the French Revolution
- Baron Henry Hope and his descendants were beset with tragedy
- Habib Bey drowned along with his whole family in a steamer collision
- The last one, Evalyn Walsh McLean bought the diamond in 1910 from Pierre Cartier.
- Despite all the glamour, luxury and power, Mrs McLean's personal life had many tragic chapters.
Her son. nine years old, was hit and killed by a car. Her husband was implicated in a scandal. They divorced in 1929. Mr. McLean died in an institution in 1946. Mrs. McLean's daughter, age 25, died from an overdose. Mrs. McLean died of pneumonia in 1947.
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One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Hope Diamond is its distinct red phosphorescence when viewed under Ultraviolet light. Photo John Nels Hatleberg
In 1949, Harry Winston purchased Mrs. McLean's estate of 74 pieces - including the Hope Diamond - for over one million dollars.
This famous diamond was the central attraction in the "Court of Jewels," an exhibition coordinated by Harry Winston, which toured the United States from 1949 to 1953.
In 1958, Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution.
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