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Hope Diamond
Sign in to saveAlso known as the French Blue
famous 45.52 carat diamond of deep-blue color
Key facts
- Weight
- 45.52 carats (9.104 g; 0.3211 oz)
- Color
- Fancy Dark Greyish Blue (GTA)
- Cut
- Antique cushion
- Country of origin
- India
- Mine of origin
- Kollur Mine
- Discovered
- Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
- Cut by
- Wilhelm Fals
- Original owner
- Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
- Owner
- Smithsonian Institution
- Estimated value
- US$200–350 million
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat (9.104 g; 0.3211 oz) blue diamond that has been famed for its great size and blue-violet color since the 17th century. It was extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Andhra Pradesh, India. The gemstone's exceptional size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds.
The Hope Diamond's recorded history begins in 1666, when the French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased the raw Golconda stone in India. After cutting the gem and renaming it "the French Blue" (Le bleu de France), Tavernier sold it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. It was stolen in 1792, re-cut by persons unknown, and recovered after a lapse of years, appearing under the Hope name in an 1839 gem catalogue from the Hope banking family, from whom the diamond's name derives.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Hope Diamond” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.