Strangest Mysteries of the World and Beyond !

The curse of the Hope Diamond

The curse of the Hope Diamond

According to the legend, a curse befell the large, blue diamond when it was plucked (i.e. stolen) from an idol in India - a curse that foretold bad luck and death not only for the owner of the diamond but for all who touched it.

Whether or not you believe in the curse, the Hope diamond has intrigued people for centuries. It’s perfect quality, its large size, and its rare color make it strikingly unique and beautiful. Add to this a varied history which includes being owned by King Louis XIV, stolen during the French Revolution, sold to earn money for gambling, worn to raise money for charity, and then finally donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The Hope diamond is truly unique.

Taken from the Forehead of an Idol

The legend is said to begin with a theft. Several centuries ago, a man named Tavernier made a trip to India. While there, he stole a large blue diamond from the forehead (or eye) of a statue of the Hindu goddess, Sita. For this transgression, according to the legend, Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs on a trip to Russia (after he had sold the diamond). This was the first horrible death attributed to the curse.

In fact, the story is a myth: Tavernier returned to France and sold the gem to King Louis XIV for a pretty penny, after which he retired to Russia and died peacefully there. Scholars even question how Tavernier came upon the gem, as a second diamond never turned up, and no one else ever found the statue in question.

Louis, too, escaped misfortune despite his ownership of the "French Blue," as the Hope was then called. However, one of Louis' descendants who inherited the stone was not as lucky

Stolen!

When Louis XV died, his grandson, Louis XVI, became king with Marie Antoinette as his queen. According to the legend, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded during the French Revolution because of the blue diamond's curse.

Considering that King Louis XIV and King Louis XV had both owned and worn the blue diamond a number of times and have not been set down in legend as tormented by the curse, it is difficult to say that all those who owned or touched the gem would suffer an ill fate. Though it is true that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded, it seems that it had much more to do with their extravagance and the French Revolution than a curse on the diamond. Plus, these two royals were certainly not the only ones beheaded during the Reign of Terror.

During the French Revolution, the crown jewels (including the blue diamond) were taken from the royal couple after they attempted to flee France in 1791. The jewels were placed in the Garde-Meuble but were not well guarded.

Why is it called the "Hope diamond"?

There is some evidence that the blue diamond resurfaced in London by 1813 and was owned by a jeweler Daniel Eliason by 1823.

No one is sure that the blue diamond in London was the same one stolen from the Garde-Meuble because the one in London was of a different cut. Yet, most people feel the rarity and perfectness of the French blue diamond and the blue diamond that appeared in London makes it likely that someone re-cut the French blue diamond in the hopes of hiding its origin. The blue diamond that surfaced in London was estimated at 44 carats.

There is some evidence that shows King George IV of England bought the blue diamond from Daniel Eliason and upon King George's death, the diamond was sold to pay off debts.

By 1939, possibly earlier, the blue diamond was in the possession of Henry Philip Hope, from whom the Hope diamond has taken its name.

The Hope family is said to have been tainted with the diamond's curse.

According to the legend, the once-rich Hopes went bankrupt because of the Hope diamond. The stone's "curse" skipped over Henry but came down with a vengeance on a descendant, Lord Francis Hope. After Lord Francis received his inheritance at the age of 21, he married an American showgirl named Mary Yohe and lived so far beyond his means that he was eventually forced to sell the magnificent diamond and declare bankruptcy. The showgirl ran off with one of his rivals and eventually died in poverty.

The Hope diamond exchanged hands a few times before American jeweler Pierre Cartier obtained it, and again the "curse" skipped him. In fact, historians suspect Cartier embellished some of the curse rumors to entice the diamond's next buyer, the glamorous Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who became the modern poster child for the stone's curse.

McLean and her husband obtained it in 1912 and proceeded to lead a notably tragic life. Her young son was killed in a car accident, and her daughter committed suicide. Her husband left her for another woman and eventually ended up in an insane asylum. In the words of the Smithsonian, "More than anyone, Evalyn Walsh McLean became the poster child for the Hope diamond's legendary curse ."

The jeweler Henry Winston bought the diamond from McLean's estate and avoided its curse, eventually selling it to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1958. The museum, too, did well — attendance grew and the museum is now home to one of the world's finest gem collections — but James Todd, the postman who delivered it, did indeed meet with misfortune: He was hit by a truck (not fatally), his wife and dog died not long after, and his home caught fire.

The tragedies-

*King Louis XIV gave the diamond to a mistress, but then he cruelly abandoned her.

*The gem eventually passed into the hands of Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette, both of whom were later beheaded.

*It vanished for a while, only to show up in London, where it was bought by banker Henry Thomas Hope. Hope was one of the few who apparently escaped the curse, although he did lend his name to the gemstone.

*A Russian prince obtained the diamond, lent it to a French actress, and soon after fatally shot her. The prince himself was stabbed to death by revolutionaries.

*There then followed ownership, in quick succession, by a Greek jeweler who fell off a cliff; a sultan who went insane; and a man named Habib Bey, who drowned.

*The diamond was then sold to the Maclean family. The curse hit this family hard: the patriarch’s mother died soon after he took possession of the gem, two servants died, and the 10-year-old son was run over by a car, the daughter committed suicide, and the mother died a raging alcoholic.

Perhaps the museum is lucky to be one of the owners spared the wrath of the Hope diamond. Or perhaps there is no ruinous curse at all. That's what its market value would imply, anyway: Today the sky-blue gem is worth a quarter of a billion dollars.