The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat (9.104 g; 0.3211 oz) blue diamond that has been well-known for its large size and blue-violet color since the 17th century. It was mined in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Andhra Pradesh, India. The gem's large size has provided new information about how diamonds form.

The Hope Diamond's recorded history begins in 1666, when the French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier bought the raw Golconda stone in India. After cutting the gem and renaming it "the French Blue" (Le bleu de France), Tavernier sold it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. It was stolen in 1792, re-cut by unknown people, and recovered after many years. It later appeared in an 1839 gem catalogue from the Hope banking family, from whom the diamond's name comes.

The Hope Diamond's last private owner was the American jeweler Harry Winston, who purchased it in 1949 from the estate of Evalyn Walsh McLean, a mining heiress and socialite. After showing the diamond in exhibitions for several years, Winston placed it in a necklace and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., in 1958. It remains on display there permanently.

Classification

The Hope Diamond is a large, 45.52-carat (9.104 g; 0.3211 oz) deep-blue diamond set in a pendant called Toison d’or. It appears dark greyish-blue under normal light because of small amounts of boron in its crystal structure. When exposed to ultraviolet light, it glows red. It is classified as a type IIb diamond.

The Hope Diamond is currently displayed in the National Gem and Mineral collection at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It has been owned by many people over time, moving from Hyderabad, India, to France, Great Britain, and the United States. It is often called the "most famous diamond in the world."

Physical properties

The gray modifier (mask) on the Hope Diamond is extremely dark, appearing almost blackish-blue under incandescent light. Photographs of the diamond often use bright lights to highlight its shine. In books and articles, the diamond is described as having a very deep blue color, similar to a high-quality sapphire. For example, one source called it "the blue of the most beautiful blue sapphire," and others referred to its color as "sapphire blue." A historical account by Tavernier called it "a beautiful violet."

The diamond weighs 45.5 carats, about the size of a walnut. It feels heavier than it looks because of its density. When held, it is turned slowly to let light reflect off its many flat surfaces, showing its brilliance. It is known as the hardest natural material, but care is taken to avoid dropping it.

— Associated Press reporter Ron Edmonds in 2003

History

The Hope Diamond was formed deep inside the Earth about 1.1 billion years ago. Like all diamonds, it was created when carbon atoms bonded strongly together. The Hope Diamond was originally inside a type of rock called kimberlite and was later removed and refined to become the gem we know today. The Hope Diamond has small amounts of boron mixed with its carbon structure, which gives it the rare blue color.

Although many people think of the Hope Diamond as a historic gem, it is also important as a rare scientific specimen that can help scientists learn more about how diamonds form in the Earth.

— Jeffrey Post, Smithsonian curator, 2008

Several accounts, based on writings by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who obtained the gem in India in 1666, suggest the gemstone came from the Kollur mine in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh (which was part of the Golconda kingdom of the Qutb Shahi dynasty at the time).

Tavernier’s book, Les Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier, includes sketches of large diamonds he sold to King Louis XIV, possibly in 1668 or 1669. A blue diamond is shown among these, and Tavernier mentions the "Gani Coulour" (Kollur Mine) as a source of colored diamonds, but he does not directly name the stone. Historian Richard Kurin has suggested 1653 as a possible year Tavernier acquired the diamond, but it is certain he obtained it during one of his five trips to India between 1640 and 1667. One report says Tavernier took 25 diamonds to Paris, including the large one that became the Hope Diamond, and sold them all to King Louis XIV. Another report states Tavernier sold the large blue diamond along with about 1,000 other diamonds to the king for 220,000 livres—equal to 147 kilograms of pure gold.

In the historical novel The French Blue, gemologist and historian Richard W. Wise suggests that the patent of nobility given to Tavernier by Louis XIV was part of the payment for the Tavernier Blue. At the time, the king’s finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, sold noble titles for money. A patent of nobility was worth about 500,000 livres. Adding this to the reported sale to the king would total about 720,000 livres, which was half the price Tavernier originally estimated for the gem. There has been debate about the actual weight of the stone. Some believe the 112.1875-carat weight listed in Tavernier’s invoice refers to old French carats, which would make it 115.28 metric carats.

In 1678, Louis XIV asked the court jeweler Jean Pitau to recut the Tavernier Blue, resulting in a 67.125-carat stone. Royal records later called it the Blue Diamond of the Crown of France. English-speaking historians later named it the French Blue. The king had the stone set on a cravat pin.

According to one report, Louis ordered Pitau to "make him a piece to remember," and Pitau worked for two years to create a 69-carat gem the size of a pigeon’s egg. The stone reflected light in bluish-grey rays and was set in gold with a ribbon for the king to wear during ceremonies. At the center of the gem was a sun with seven facets—the sun was Louis’s emblem, and seven is a number with spiritual meaning in biblical history.

— Report by Agence France-Presse, 2008

In 1749, Louis XIV’s great-grandson, Louis XV, had the French Blue set into a more elaborate pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece by court jeweler André Jacquemin. The piece included a red spinel shaped like a dragon breathing "covetous flames," as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to resemble a fleece.

The piece was not used after Louis XV’s death. The diamond became the property of his grandson, Louis XVI, whose wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, used many French Crown Jewels for personal use by having gems placed in new settings. The French Blue remained in the pendant, except for a short time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by Mathurin Jacques Brisson.

On September 11, 1792, during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, thieves broke into the Royal Storehouse, stealing most of the Crown Jewels. While many jewels were later recovered, the French Blue was not found and disappeared from history.

On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was executed; Marie Antoinette was executed on October 16 of the same year. These events are sometimes linked to the diamond’s "curse," but historical records show Marie Antoinette never wore the Golden Fleece pendant, as it was reserved for the king.

A likely scenario is that the French Blue was smuggled to London after being taken in 1792. However, the French Blue was never seen again in its original form, as it was likely recut during its time in hiding. The largest remaining piece became the Hope Diamond. One report said the recutting was poorly done, removing 23.5 carats and reducing its shine.

For many years, it was believed the Hope Diamond was cut from the French Blue. This was confirmed when a three-dimensional model of the French Blue was found in the archives of the Paris National Museum of Natural History in 2005. Before this, the French Blue’s size was known only from two drawings made in 1749 and 1789. The model shows differences from the drawings but matches features of the Hope Diamond, allowing computer-aided design technology to reconstruct the French Blue around the recut stone.

The model revealed 20 unknown facets on the back of the French Blue and confirmed the diamond was roughly recut, removing its three-pointed shape and reducing its thickness slightly. The original baroque style was lost, and the diamond became unrecognizable.

Historians suggest one thief, Cadet Guillot, took the French Blue and the Côte-de-Bretagne spinel to London, where the French Blue was cut into two pieces.

Curse mythology

The diamond is surrounded by a story that it brings bad luck and tragedy to those who own or wear it. However, there is evidence that these stories help make the diamond more mysterious and interesting, which can increase its value and how much people talk about it.

Many stories from the late 1800s and early 1900s claimed that the original Hope Diamond was stolen from the eye of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita. However, these stories are likely made up by Western writers during the Victorian era. Specific stories about the diamond being "cursed" were created in the early 1900s to make the diamond more famous and to help sell it.

People who owned the diamond were said to have bad luck, but these reports are not proven. A 2006 article in The New York Times said there is no official proof that the diamond is linked to tragedy.

Newspapers helped spread the curse story. A 1888 article in a New Zealand newspaper described the diamond as having once been the eye of a statue. Another article in The Washington Post in 1908 claimed the diamond brought trouble to all its owners. In 1909, The Times reported that the diamond’s history was filled with tragedies like murder and madness. A 1911 New York Times article listed supposed cases of bad luck, but few of these were confirmed by other sources.

Most experts believe these stories are not true because there is little or no proof to support them. For example, a 1909 article incorrectly said the diamond’s former owner, Selim Habib, drowned in a shipwreck, but this was about a different person with the same name. Some believe the jeweler Pierre Cartier made up parts of the story to interest Evalyn Walsh McLean into buying the diamond in 1911.

The idea of thieves stealing a valuable object from a temple or tomb and being punished by it appears in many stories. A book called The Moonstone (1868) helped inspire these tales, as did stories about the curse of Tutankhamun and movies like those in the Indiana Jones and The Mummy series. One version of the story claims the diamond was stolen from a Hindu temple, where it had been part of an idol’s eye. However, historians dismiss this because the other eye of the idol was never found.

Many of the stories about the diamond are not true when examined closely. For example, it is claimed that a man named Tavernier was torn apart by wolves, but records show he lived to be 84 and died naturally.

Some believe the curse story may have made people hesitant to buy the diamond. In 1911, a lawsuit between the McLeans and Cartier was blamed on the diamond’s "curse," even though the lawsuit was about the sale price.

The diamond was also linked to the misfortunes of people like Madame Athenais de Montespan and French minister Nicolas Fouquet during Louis XIV’s reign, as well as the deaths of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. However, many of these connections are not proven.

Stories also mention other people, like diamond cutter Wilhelm Fals and Russian prince Kanitowski, but few of these individuals are confirmed to have existed.

Actress May Yohe claimed to be the last Hope family member to own the diamond and blamed it for her problems. She even made a movie about the diamond’s mystery, but it was not successful.

Evalyn Walsh McLean added her own stories to the diamond’s history, including a claim that Catherine the Great owned it, but there is no proof of this.

Replicas

In 2007, a lead mold of the French Blue diamond was found in the gem collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. This discovery led to a study by a group of researchers from around the world to learn more about the diamond’s history. Before this, researchers had only used two-dimensional sketches of the diamond to understand its shape. Now, the three-dimensional mold allowed scientists to use tools like computer drawing analysis.

The article’s "Theft and Disappearance" section explains how experts used digital methods to recreate the gem. The emblem of the Golden Fleece, made for Louis XV, was rebuilt around the French Blue. This included the "Côte de Bretagne" spinel, which weighs 107 carats (21.4 grams; 0.75 ounces), the "Bazu" diamond, which weighs 32.62 carats (6.524 grams; 0.2301 ounces), three yellow sapphires (called oriental topazes), five diamonds up to 5 carats (1,000 milligrams; 0.035 ounces), and nearly 300 smaller diamonds.

As part of the study, researchers used the original French version of Tavernier’s book Voyages to recreate the "Tavernier Blue" diamond. The Smithsonian Institution shared data about the Hope diamond, including how light interacts with it and its chemical makeup.

The lead mold was added to the French museum’s collection in 1850 by a famous Paris jeweler named Charles Archard, who lived around the same time as René Just Haüy, who died in 1822. It is likely the mold was made around 1815, as that was the time when similar records in the 1850 catalog were added. The mold had a label stating the French Blue was owned by someone named "Mr. Hope of London." Other museum records suggest that Hope was a long-time customer of Archard, especially for blue gems.

These findings helped researchers understand what happened to the diamond during the years after 1792 when its history was unclear. One theory suggests that Henry Philip Hope, the first person to own the "Hope Diamond," may have had the French Blue after it was stolen in Paris in 1792, possibly around 1794–1795, when the Hopes moved to London to escape Napoleon’s army. Around the same time, a man named Cadet Guillot, who might have stolen the Golden Fleece, also arrived in London. This places Mr. Hope and Mr. Guillot in London at the same time. A 19th-century historian named Bapts wrote that in 1796, Guillot made a deal with a French aristocrat named Lancry de la Loyelle to sell the 107-carat spinel from the Golden Fleece.

By 1802, Hope sold his business, and financial problems caused by Napoleon’s war efforts led to a crisis for the Hope family by 1808. This crisis worsened between 1811 and 1812. It is possible that Hope sold the French Blue to a jeweler named Eliason to get money, as British money was worth less at the time. Records from Eliason’s shop mention the diamond being there in 1812.

However, the diamond’s owners may have wanted to hide its identity quickly if the French government found out about it, as the government might have tried to take it back. By 1824, the diamond was again in Hope’s possession. Around this time, Eliason died, and Hope’s financial situation improved because of help from the Barings, who saved the Hope bank during the difficult years of 1812–1820. If this is true, the lead mold of the French Blue and the "Hope" diamond were likely made in the same workshop, possibly in London, just before 1812.

The lead mold helped museum curators create the first exact copies of the Tavernier and French Blue diamonds using a material called cubic zirconia, which looks like diamonds. Artisans, led by Scott Sucher, made these copies. The replicas are displayed with the French Crown Jewels and the Great Sapphire of Louis XIV, a large sapphire cut in the Moghul style. Artisans also recreated the Golden Fleece, a famous jewelry set made for Louis XV, which includes the French Blue, the Bazu diamond, the Côte de Bretagne spinel, and hundreds of smaller diamonds. This project took three years to complete and showed the skill of both modern artisans and 18th-century designers. The reconstructed jewel was shown in Paris on June 30, 2010, at the same place where the original was stolen 218 years earlier.

New discoveries helped make more copies of the Golden Fleece. A drawing of the jewel found in Switzerland in the 1980s and two blue diamonds found later allowed artisans to recreate the emblem. This led to a replica made of cubic zirconia that closely matches the original French Blue, which weighed 69 carats (13.8 grams; 0.49 ounces).

The emblem also includes the Bazu diamond, named after a dealer who sold it to Louis XIV in 1669. The Bazu diamond was cut in 1749 into a shape called a "baroque cushion" and weighed 32.62 carats (6.524 grams; 0.2301 ounces). A 1791 record said the Bazu was "light sky blue," matching the Golden Fleece’s mix of colorful gems. Private documents show the diamond was not hexagonal, as some thought, but had a "rounded squared" shape, like the Régent diamond. A museum curator said the hexagonal shape of the Bazu is not historically or gemologically accurate. Some historians believe a version of the Golden Fleece made of blue sapphires instead of diamonds was suggested to Louis XV but never made. Both the French Blue and Bazu diamonds were recreated using cubic zirconia, one deep blue and the other light blue.

The emblem also includes the Côte de Bretagne spinel. Its replica was based on a wax model made by Pascal Monney, who used three-dimensional images of the original, created by François Farges, who saw the real objects at the Louvre. Artist Etienne Leperlier also made a glass copy of the wax model, using gold and manganese pigments to match the spinel’s color.

Over 500 other diamond replicas were made from cubic zirconia using a baroque style.