Diamond Blog

The Hope Diamond’s journey began when the French merchant traveler, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, purchased a roughly triangular shaped and crudely cut 112 3/16-carat diamond while traveling in India. The diamond was most likely from the Kollur mine in Golconda. Tavernier described its color as “a beautiful violet.”

In 1668, this diamond, along with 14 other large diamonds and many smaller ones, were sold by Tavenier to King Louis XIV of France. Five years later, in 1673, the king had the stone recut by Sieur Pitau, the court jeweler, and became a 68 1/8-carat stone. At that point it was described as an intense steely-blue, and the stone became known as the “Blue Diamond of the Crown” or the “French Blue.” It was set in gold for the King, and attached to a neck ribbon. The new necklace was only worn on very special occasions.

he next King in line, Louis XV, had the stone reset by his court jeweler, Andre Jacquemin, in 1749. it was set in a piece of ceremonial jewelry for the Order of the Golden Fleece. In 1791, the jewels for the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government after the king and his wife, Marie Antoinette attempted to flee France. The French Blue was stolen after a week long looting of the crown jewels in September, 1792.

The diamond didn’t surface again until 1812, when a deep blue diamond of about 22 carats was said to be owned by London diamond merchant Daniel Eliason. There was strong evidence in favor of this stone being the original French Blue. There is also evidence that the stone was acquired by King George IV of England. When he died in 1830, his debts were so substantial that all his valuable were most likely sold at auction or in private channels, including the French Blue.

Nine years later, the diamond resurfaced again, this time in the possession of Henry Philip Hope, from whom the diamond gets its famous name. Unfortunately, where the diamond was for those missing nine years is not-known. Henry Pope died the same year, and the stone was passed to his nephew, Henry Thomas Hope. When this man died, the diamond was given to his grandson, Lord Francis Hope. Here we reach the 1900s. In 1901, Lord Frances was granted permission to sell the diamond to pay of his debts. It was purchased to a London dealer who quickly sold it off again to Joseph Frankels and Sons of New York City. They kept the gem for several years until they, like the previous owner, sold it to pay off their debts. The diamond was then bought by Selim Habib, and was put up for auction in Paris is 1909. It didn’t sell at the auction, but sold afterwards to C.H. Rosenau, who then resold it to Pierre Cartier in the same year.

The next year, in 1910, Cartier showed the diamond to American Mrs. Evelyn Walsh McLean, who did not like the setting. So Cartier had the gem reset as a headpiece on a three-tiered circlet of large white diamonds, and in 1911 it was sold to Mrs. McLean. Sometime later it was reset onto a pendant, as we see it today. Mrs. McLean was the proud owner of the Hope Diamond until her death in 1947.

The jewelry from Mrs. McLean’s estate was sold to Harry Winston Inc. of New York in 1949. Along with the Hope Diamond, Winston Inc. purchased the 94.8 carat Star of the East, the 15-carat Star of the South, a 9-carat green diamond with no name, and the 31-carat diamond now known as the McLean diamond. For then years, the Hope Diamond was shown worldwide at exhibits and charitable events, until Winston Inc. donated it to the Smithsonian Institution on November 10, 1958. The Hope Diamond almost immediately became the Smithsonian Institution’s number one attraction.

Since them the diamond has left the Smithsonian Institution Museum only a few times, including a month long exhibition in 1962 at the Louvre in Paris, France, as part of an exhibit entitled “Ten Centuries of French Jewelry,” and a brief lend-out to Harry Winston Inc. for the firm’s 50th anniversary celebration. It was sent again to Harry Winston Inc. in 1966 for cleaning and restoration.

For years the diamond was reported to be 44.5 carats, but when it was removed from its setting in 1974 it was discovered to be 45.52 carats. It is a type IIb diamond — semi-conductive and usually phosphoresce. It phosphoresce is a strong red color, and the diamond’s blue coloration is said to result from trace amounts of boron in the stone.

From France to America and back again, the Hope Diamond has bad a fascinating journey through time and across the world to land where it is today, centuries after it’s original purchase.