2. The Hope Diamond - Diamond Guild Australia (2024)

FAQs

Who currently owns the Hope Diamond? ›

The Hope Diamond is currently housed in the National Gem and Mineral collection at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It has changed hands numerous times on its way from Hyderabad, India, to France, Great Britain, and the United States, where it is on public display.

As of 2023, the Hope Diamond is reportedly worth around 350 million dollars. Was Hope Diamond on the Titanic? No, the Hope Diamond wasn't on the Titanic. However, a blue stone necklace that looked inspired by the Hope Diamond was used to create Rose's Heart of the Ocean Necklace.

In 1949, Harry Winston purchased the Hope Diamond along with the rest of the Evalyn Walsh McLean's jewelry collection.

According to the legend, a curse attends the owner of the Hope diamond, a curse that first befell the large, blue gem 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.

1791: Wilhelm Fals

The diamond was stolen during the French revolution and re-cut. Wilhelm Fals was a Dutch jeweller who was responsible for cutting the 115-carat diamond to the 45-carat Blue Hope Diamond we see today.

Richard Burton has never owned the “Hope Diamond”. He (and Elizabeth Taylor) did buy a large diamond (known as the “Taylor-Burton" diamond back in 1969.

The Hope Diamond was not on the Titanic when it sank; it was owned by Washington socialite, Mrs Evelyn McLean, who didn't even set sail on the infamous ship. When she died in 1947, it was sold to pay off her debts. The precious stone has its own narrative that is worthy of a film in itself.

All diamonds now belong to the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The Cullinan I weighs 530.2 carats and Cullinan II weighs 317.4 carats. The Cullinan II, also called The Star of Africa, is worth about $400 million and is the largest polished white diamond in the world.

#1 - The Hope Diamond

Probably the most well-known of all gems, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond has a past as colourful as the stone itself. The stone's story as we know it begins in 1642, when a French merchant purchased it and then resold it a few years later to King Louis XIV of France.

The Hope Diamond is formally donated to the Smithsonian by Harry Winston, a New York gem merchant. The stone was acquired by Winston in 1949 from the estate of Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, who received it from her husband, Edward B. McLean, in 1911.

What is the most expensive diamond in the world? ›

The Koh-I-Noor — Unknown

Weighing in at a massive 105.6ct, the most expensive diamond in the world is oval-shaped. Steeped in mystery and legend, the stone is believed to have been mined in India in the 1300s.

At more than 187 carats, the Foxfire Diamond is more than four times bigger than the gallery's famous Hope Diamond. More than 100 million people have visited the Hope Diamond, a blue stone cut into a 45.52 carat heart-shaped diamond, which Harry Winston donated to the Smithsonian in 1958, the museum says.

For more than a century, historians have debat- ed the existence of “sister” stones to the Hope diamond, most notably the Brunswick Blue and the Pirie diamonds. The recent discovery of a lead cast of the French Blue, the Hope's precur- sor, has provided a more accurate model of that diamond, which disappeared in 1792.

Then, it traded hands several times until it was bought in 1912 by Evalyn Walsh McLean, a Washington, D.C socialite, who owned it until her death in 1947. Harry Winston owned it for the next eleven years until he donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Now, the gem belongs to all Americans.

After extensive remodeling of the display area, the Hope Diamond is exhibited in the new Harry Winston Room in the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.

On November 10, 1958, they donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, and almost immediately the great blue stone became its premier attraction. The Hope Diamond has left the Smithsonian only four times since it was donated.

The Hope Diamond was not on the Titanic when it sank; it was owned by Washington socialite, Mrs Evelyn McLean, who didn't even set sail on the infamous ship. When she died in 1947, it was sold to pay off her debts.