The Hope Diamond: The Cursed History and Science of the Priceless Blue Gemstone
GIA scientist Dr. Sally Eaton-Magaña gets unprecedented access to one of the world’s most famous gemstones — the Hope Diamond.
Gemological Institute of America
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A gemstone of legends, kings, and scandalous superstitions, the Hope Diamond is one of history’s most famous diamonds. This 45.52 carat fancy deep grayish-blue diamond has an incomparable history and an extraordinary combination of physical properties. During its long and allegedly cursed lifetime, the Hope Diamond has intersected with the French monarchy—Kings Louis XIV through XVI—and likely the British monarch King George IV. The Hope Diamond has been owned by wealthy diamond merchants and some of the most well-known individuals within the jewelry world, including Pierre Cartier and Harry Winston.
Ahead, learn the story of the Hope Diamond and the science behind what makes this blue gem so rare and spectacular.
Meet the Expert
- Dr. Sally Eaton-Magaña is a Senior Research Scientist at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
- She currently works in research related to natural diamonds, diamond color, treatments, and identification of laboratory-grown diamonds
A tiny fragment of midnight sky, fallen to earth and still aglow with star gleam.
A Closer Look at the Hope Diamond
In 2005, I was fortunate to be part of a research team that documented and researched the Hope Diamond’s red phosphorescence, which was previously observed many times before, yet never fully investigated. Those heady days were an exciting opportunity for me; it was enthralling to hold this singular stone and come so close to its incomparable story.
The History of the Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond got its name from one of its first documented owners, Henry Philip Hope, a wealthy British banker and an avid collector of gems and paintings. Included among Hope’s holdings when he died, the diamond was passed down through this family until 1901 when it was sold to a jeweler. 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. Jeweler 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.
So how did the story of this illustrious diamond begin? The story of the gemstone that would later become known as the Hope Diamond began in the 17th century with French gem merchant and traveler Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who acquired a 112 3/16 carat diamond. Likely sourced from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, the stone had a roughly triangular shape and a crude cut. Tavernier described its color as a “beautiful violet.”
Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France (“The Sun King”) in 1668, along with 14 other large diamonds and several smaller ones. In 1673, the stone was recut by his royal jeweler into the 69 carat French Blue, and fashioned with a gold backing that allowed the “sun” to shine within its central field of blue.
This beautiful blue diamond was stolen during the French Revolution in 1792. Twenty years later, a smaller (although still spectacular) 45 carat blue diamond surfaced in London. This diamond, which ultimately became known as the Hope Diamond, appeared just days after the twenty-year statute of limitations for crimes committed during the French Revolution had passed. However, there is little information about who might have recut the gemstone. Although it had been speculated for decades that the lost French Blue and the Hope Diamond were actually the same stone, convincing evidence was not presented until the mid-2000s.
Since its donation to the Smithsonian, the Hope Diamond has left the museum only four times. In 1962, it traveled to Paris for a month-long exhibition at the Louvre titled Ten Centuries of French Jewelry. Three years later, in 1965, it was displayed at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1984, the diamond was loaned to Harry Winston Inc. in New York to commemorate the firm’s 50th anniversary. Its most recent journey occurred in 1996, when it was again sent to Harry Winston Inc. for cleaning and minor restoration.
Read More: The Science of Colored Diamonds
Realistic replicas of the 112 carat Tavernier Blue (the original blue diamond that was presented to King Louis XIV) and the 69 carat French Blue were created. Computer models were produced of all three diamonds to verify that the Hope could be wholly contained within the French Blue. Some of the cutting decisions of the Hope Diamond, such as its asymmetric shape, were best explained by its prior history as the 69 carat French Blue diamond.
The Curse of the Hope Diamond
After Jean Baptiste Tavernier sold the original 112 3/16-carat diamond to King Louis XIV, legend claims he was later torn apart by wild dogs—a claim widely considered apocryphal but often repeated. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, both eventual owners of the recut French Blue, were executed during the French Revolution. Later, after acquiring the diamond in 1911, Evalyn Walsh McLean experienced a series of personal tragedies, including the death of her young son, the mental collapse of her daughter, and her husband’s financial ruin and eventual death in a sanitarium.
Although these events may have been coincidence, the pattern of misfortune helped cement the legend of a curse, adding a layer of mystique that continues to captivate and unsettle those who encounter the gem.
The Science of the Hope Diamond
So what was so special about the Hope Diamond that it attracted such prestigious and royal attention? Well, for starters, the Hope Diamond was graded by the GIA in 1988 and in 1996 as a 45.52 carat diamond with a cushion shape with antique brilliance, VS1 clarity and a Fancy Deep grayish-blue color (the result of an incredibly high concentration of observable boron impurities determined as about 1.7 parts per million).
The vast majority of natural gem diamonds (about 99%) have high amounts of nitrogen impurities, with the remaining 1% having little-to-no detectable nitrogen. Less than 0.1% of diamonds—including the Hope—have detectable boron; among these, the vast majority have lower quantities of boron than the Hope Diamond, with most ringing in with less than 0.5 parts per million. Therefore, any natural diamond with such a high quantity of boron is exceedingly unusual, and the occurrence within such a large diamond is truly rare.
Another extraordinary trait of the Hope Diamond is its fiery red phosphorescence. When the diamond is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, the diamond will glow like a burning ember for longer than a minute. Like the diamond’s blue color, the red phosphorescence is also related to the boron that was incorporated into the diamond while the gemstone formed. When exposed to short-wave UV, those boron atoms interact with other impurities within the diamond that cause the gemstone to emit visible light. The vibrant red glow, coupled with its extended duration, makes this trait quite distinctive for the diamond.
Though superstition and suspicions of a curse have surrounded the history of Hope Diamond for decades, scientific examinations of the diamond—particularly over the last twenty years—have exposed many of its long-held secrets. Such recent research endeavors include the computer modeling that convincingly demonstrated its origin as the French Blue, spectroscopic details and origins of its phosphorescence, plus determination of both its total boron concentration and its observable boron concentration.
Although this diamond passed through many hands before arriving at the Smithsonian where it will continue to captivate millions of visitors, it is fortuitous that this gemstone found its name from one of the first documented owners—Hope. The concept of hope is a universally human sentiment and a fitting appellation for this priceless gem.
