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| 'The Hope Diamond Curse' |
The Hope Diamond,
described as ‘the most famous diamond in the world’ has ownership records
dating back almost four centuries…its much-admired rare blue color is attributed
to trace amounts of boron atoms...weighing 45.52 carats, it was last reported to
be insured for $250 million…the Hope Diamond has long been rumored to carry
with it a curse...at times…the diamond has been subject to theft and there are
a few years where the diamond was actually unaccounted for…a New York Times
article from 1911 gave a list of supposed cases of ill-fortune…here are some of
the unfortunate…Jacques Colet bought the Hope Diamond and later committed
suicide…a Russian Prince, Prince Ivan Kanitovski bought it but later was killed
by revolutionists…it was once loaned to a woman who later was murdered by her
lover…Sultan Hamid gave it to a person to "polish" but later but the
man had the misfortune to be imprisoned and tortured…a guardian who was put in
charge of protecting the stone was hanged by a mob…later a Turkish attendant was
hanged for simply having it in his possession…another unfortunate owner who
brought the stone from India to Paris was said to have been "torn to
pieces by wild dogs in Constantinople."…there have been others who have
committed suicide or have died broken…the popular view among skeptics is that
these accounts are speculative since there are supposedly few, if any, hard
facts to back them up...personally, I saw the Hope Diamond at a Smithsonian
Museum in Washington, D.C…it was quite impressive, but given its record of
ownership misfortune, I’m not sure I would have taken it if it was offered to
me…of course, given its value, I may have taken a chance.
