The Hope Diamond

Welcome back, fellow humans 🙂 

Have you heard about the Hope Diamond?

The Hope Diamond is a blue coloured jewel that is known as one of the cursed gems in the world. 

Outline of the Hope Diamond

The diamond was extracted from Kollur mine situated in Andhra Pradesh, India. According to myths, the gem was lodged on the forehead of Hindu Goddess Sita.

Hindu Goddess Sita

In 1666, the diamond was stolen or purchased by a French merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the diamond was named as the Tavernier Blue. 

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

In 1668, Tavernier sold the Tavernier Blue to King Louis XIV, the Sun King. Then, he moved to Russia where he lived till his old age. The Tavernier Blue has renamed it to the French Blue Diamond. Louis XIV died of gangrene at the age of 76 and his children died of natural causes in childhood, excluding one. After the death of King Louis XIV, the diamond was inherited by King Louis XV. 

King Louis XIV

Nicholas Fouquet worked for King Louis XIV. He had an occasional association with the diamond. The curse caused him to fall out of favour with the king, thus, sentencing him to 15 years in the Pignerol fortress.

Nicholas Fouquet

In 1793, Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI were guillotined and the curse of the Hope Diamond was blamed for their ill-fated. However, they were not the only monarchy to be executed during the French Revolution, instead, it was because of their greed and indulgence.

Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI

For example, Marie-Louise was part of Marie Antoinette’s court. During the French Revolution, she was attacked with a hammer, amputated, disrobed and gutted by a mob after she declined to cooperate with the revolutionary movement.

Death of Marie

The French Blue Diamond stayed within the French royal family until it was stolen and smuggled to London during the French Revolution. No records of any ill-fated events befalling the robbers. Daniel Eliason sold the diamond to King George IV of England and after he passed away the diamond was used to pay off his debts. 

Britain’s King George IV

Wilhelm Fals, a Dutch jeweller, recut the diamond and murdered by his own son, Hendrik, in order to steal the diamond and later committed suicide because of the guilt. Also, a Greek merchant named Simon Maoncharides, his wife and child perished after possessing the diamond.

Murder !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Henry Philip Hope was the former heir of the Hope & Co, a banking firm. Henry Philip Hope purchased the blue diamond that was later known after his family’s name. In 1839, he died and the diamond was passed to Henry Thomas Hope. When Henry Thomas Hope died in 1862 at the age of 54, the diamond was later inherited by Lord Francis Hope. Francis Hope had to sell the Hope Diamond to settle his debts resulting from gambling. His wife, Mary Yohe eloped with his rival and died of poverty at the age of 72. 

Henry Philip Hope

In 1901, Simon Frankel, an American jeweller, who bought the Hope Diamond and handed it to Pierre Cartier. Evidence shows that Cartier amplified the element of curse stories to arouse the interest of an American heiress of a mining company named Evalyn Walsh McLean. 

Pierre Cartier 

In 1911, Evalyn Walsh McLean purchased the Hope Diamond from Pierre Cartier. The assumed curse and looming danger linked with the diamond was famous and intrigued McLean. She wore the diamond all the time as a good luck charm. Tragic events that would follow, her mother-in-law died, Vinson, her young son died at the age of 9 in a car crash, her daughter committed suicide by overdosing on drugs at the age of 25 and her husband left her for another woman and in 1941, he died in a mental asylum  and eventually she had to sell The Washington Post and died owing large sums of money. It was hard to confirm that these tragedies were attributed to the supposed curse but it seemed like it was too much just for one person to endure.

Evalyn Walsh McLean

Harry Winston was the last owner of the jewel who broke the curse of the Hope diamond by donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. However, the postman, James Todd was hit by a truck while delivering the Hope Diamond but he survived. Shortly afterwards in a separate accident, he also suffered a head injury, lost his wife and dog, and his house burned down. 

 

Harry Winston

Thank you for reading, fellow humans!