While you think about the Hope diamond, a jewel that weighs greater than 45 carats and is rumored to be cursed, what do you see? Maybe a gem the scale of a pumpkin that offers off an eerie, purple glow, with ominous music within the background? Its spooky backstory of dangerous luck — which we’ll get to quickly — form of makes you surprise why anybody would need the factor within the first place, regardless of its opulence.
However as hosts Holly Frey and Tracy V. Wilson inform us on this two-part episode of Stuff You Missed in Historical past Class, the Hope diamond’s dimension may not be as dramatic as you suppose. As Tracy places it, bringing a child to the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past (the place the jewel is housed) with the promise of seeing the most important diamond ever would possibly disappoint the kid. "They are going to count on a diamond as massive as their head, and the Hope Diamond is a diamond as massive as a walnut," she explains.
At 25.6 millimeters (1 inch) lengthy and 21.78 millimeters (0.86 inch) large, the Hope diamond is not the most important diamond on the earth. (That distinction belongs to the Cullinan I, a 530-carat gem minimize from a fair bigger stone.) However with its distinct blue solid and the creepy tales that comply with its possession, it is in all probability probably the most well-known one.
However its fame is not precisely well-earned in terms of the myths surrounding it. It is claimed that an explorer took it from a Hindu temple and was subsequently cursed — and ripped aside by wolves — for stealing it. Others declare that Marie Antoinette sashayed by means of Versailles sporting it round her neck earlier than that neck was unceremoniously disengaged from her head. However neither disturbing story could be verified.
So how did the diamond tackle such myths? The spouse of one of many Hope diamond’s namesake homeowners (Might Yohe, spouse of Lord Francis Hope) and well-known jeweler Pierre Cartier each possessed the diamond at instances and informed extravagant tales concerning the tragedy that befell those that wore or owned it. However there’s one little wrinkle.
"Each of those folks, who appeared to be the 2 predominant sources of all these rumors, had a vested curiosity in telling an excellent story," Tracy says. Each of them had been making an attempt to dump the diamond and make a revenue. So persevering with a story about how fascinating and mysterious the diamond’s historical past was? A very good gross sales method, maybe, however one with little foundation in actuality.
Now, do not suppose that each one the tales are utterly fabricated. Tracy and Holly have discovered a couple of tales of woe relating to Hope diamond homeowners, and individuals are nonetheless fairly invested in believing the diamond’s curse is actual. And the Smithsonian Establishment can attest. "The museum truly continues to obtain letters concerning the curse that blame the Hope diamond for mainly any drawback [the United States has] ever had," says Holly.
So put in your greatest jewels, and tune in to listen to Tracy and Holly clarify the Hope diamond’s origins, myths and even the science behind the purple glow (it is true!) that makes the diamond well-known on this two-part episode of Stuff You Missed in Historical past Class.
Now That is Cool
Why is the Hope diamond blue? A scientific evaluation of the gem collected atoms that confirmed the presence of boron, which supplies the diamond its distinctive hue.
