10/31/2019
HAPPY 🎃 HALLOWEEN 🎃 WEEKEND!!
The Legends Behind 4 ‘Cursed’ Gemstones
#1 - The Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is one of the most famous diamonds in the world, passed down through notable hands throughout history and put on display in world-renowned museums.
Those who have come in contact with the stone range from kings and queens to merchants and jewelers, but all are said to be bound by its curse.
The Hope Diamond passed through the hands of kings and queens before being donated to the Smithsonian Institute.
The stone’s story begins in the 1600s, when French merchant traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased a “beautiful violet” 112-carat diamond, thought to be from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, according to the Smithsonian’s website.
Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. It was recut to 67 carats and set in gold, worn around the king’s neck for ceremonial occasions.
Later in his life, Tavernier was mauled to death by dogs, according to some accounts (though others say he retired to Russia and died of natural causes.)
As for King Louis XIV of France, whose life was better documented, he died of gangrene while all but one of his children died in childhood.
The diamond was passed on to King Louis XV, who had the stone reset, and later died of smallpox.
It made its way to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, but was turned over to the government alongside the other jewels of the French Royal Treasury after the pair attempted to flee France and were subsequently beheaded.
In 1949, American jeweler Harry Winston purchased the Hope Diamond from the estate of socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean.
The Washington Post heiress lived a less-than-charmed life. The death of her mother-in-law was followed by the death of her 9-year-old son. Her husband left her for another woman, but later died in a mental hospital. Her daughter died of a drug overdose at the age of 25.
And McLean herself died with a mountain of debt, forcing her remaining children to sell the newspaper and the Hope Diamond.
Its new owner, Winston, loaned it to several museums around the world, eventually donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958.
Not even the mailman who delivered the stone to the museum was spared.
Shortly after making the delivery, James Todd was in two car accidents, suffering a leg and head injury, according to the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. His wife died of a heart attack and his dog was strangled on its leash.
To add insult to literal injuries, Todd’s Maryland home partially burned down.
So, what is the source of all this bad juju allegedly generated by the Hope? Legend has it Tavernier stole the diamond from one of the eyes of a Hindu idol and the lingering curse is the result.
