| Henry Phillip Hope |
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| ::darkshadows:: (bat@cave.org) |
2009/05/19 01:13 |
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From: "::darkshadows::" <bat@cave.org>
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Subject: Henry Phillip Hope
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Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 02:13:37 -0500
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Henry Phillip Hope
In 1830, a wealthy banker named Henry Phillip Hope had the opportunity
to buy a celebrated, cut blue diamond. The 112.5-carat diamond was
originally brought from India to France by a merchant named
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.
Rumor had it that the diamond had been stolen from a sacred Indian
idol and that it was cursed. King Louis XIV did not believe in the
curse. He bought the diamond and made it a part of crown jewels. The
king had it recut into the shape of a heart which reduced its weight
to 67.5 carats.
The diamond was handed down to Louis XVI, who gave it to his wife,
Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette lost her head, and the diamond too,
in the French Revolution. The diamond was said to have appeared next
in Holland. The owner gave it to a Frenchman, and shortly thereafter
committed suicide. The Frenchman then brought it to London, where he
soon died. Then the diamond came to Henry Hope's attention. He put no
stock in the cut and bought the diamond, now cut down to 44.5 carats,
for $90,000.
From then on, the gem was called the Hope Diamond. If there was a
curse, it did not affect Hope. After he died peacefully, the diamond
was passed to Lord Francis Hope, who went bankrupt and saw his
marriage collapse. He sold it to a jewel dealer named Jacques Colot,
who committed suicide after selling it to a Russian prince. The prince
shot his girlfriend the first night she wore the necklace. He was
later stabbed to death. The diamond then came into the posession of a
Greek jeweler, Simon Manthadides, who fell off a cliff. Its next
owner, Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid, was forced into exile within year.
The Hope Diamond ended up in the hands of Edward and Evalyn McClean,
whose family was rocked by tragedy. Edward's father went insane, and
Evalyn's father died of complications related to alcoholism. The
couple's 10-year old son was killed by a car, and their daughter Emily
committed suicide. Evalyn McClean kept the diamond until her death in
1947, when it was sold to diamond dealer Harry Winston. In 1958,
Winston gave the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, where it
remains today.
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