The Hope Diamond

The Hope Diamond is always something that has fascinated me since I first saw the movie, "Titanic". It was introduced to me in the scene where it was given to the main character as a wedding gift. I used to wonder whether that was the real Hope Diamond in the movie or not and I would have little thoughts, here and there, about it. I did some research on it and realized that the Hope Diamond is not a sapphire as it appears to be. It is a deep blue, 45 carat diamond that has a lot of history behind it. It is traced back to a blue diamond named the "Tavernier Blue", which was 115 carats and originally mined from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India. It was then sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1668, where it was cut into a 67 carat stone, set in gold and suspended on a necklace. It became known as the "Blue Diamond of the Crown" or the "French Blue". It was given to Louis XVI and when he became king, he gave it to Marie Antoinette for her jewelry collection. It was stolen in 1792 and taken to London, where there is no record of its whereabouts until 1824.
It resurfaced in the gem collection of Henry Phillip Hope, he had it set in a brooch. When he died in 1839, his 3 nephews fought in court for 10 years over his inheritance. The feud came to an end when his brother, Henry Thomas acquired the gems as well as the Hope Diamond. He put it on display in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and Paris Exhibition Universelle in 1855. When Henry Thomas died in 1862, his wife, Adele, inherited it. Upon her death in 1884, it was passed to their daughter, Henrietta. She married Henry Pelham-Clinton and when they both died, it was passed to their son, Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton Hope. Although, he had a life interest on his inheritance so he could not sell the diamond without the permission of the court.
The Hope Diamond has been through a lot since then to become the diamond that we know of today. It is currently being housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, where its legacy and beauty lives on.