The 'Hope' Diamond
Perhaps the best-recognised gem in the world, the Hope is a 45.52 carat, antique cushion-cut blue diamond mounted in a pendant surrounded by smaller white diamonds. Originally discovered in India, it became part of the French crown jewels. Stolen during the French Revolution, it was recut in London and acquired by the banker Henry Philip Hope.
In 1909, Pierre Cartier refaceted its girdle and created a new mounting. He sold it to Evelyn Walsh McLean, and two years after her death, it was bought by Harry Winston.
Like the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope is also associated with bad luck. Its first owner was Marie Antoinette, who met an untimely death at the guillotine. Later, in 1830, the jeweller who cut the stone died of grief learning that his son had stolen the magnificent gem. After his father’s death, the young man committed suicide. A Folies Bergere star was shot on stage the first time she was said to have worn the Hope.
In 1958, jeweller Harry Winston presented it to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington where it now sits safely in the National Museum of Natural History.