Editing Hope Diamond (section)

==History==
===Geological beginnings===
The Hope Diamond was formed deep within the [[Earth]] approximately 1.1 [[billion]] years ago. Like all [[diamond]]s, it was formed when [[carbon]] atoms formed strong bonds with each other. The Hope Diamond was originally embedded in [[kimberlite]] and was later extracted and refined to form the current gem. The Hope Diamond contains trace amounts of boron atoms intermixed with the carbon structure, which results in the rare blue color of the diamond.<ref name="twsI44oox">{{Cite news |date=July 9, 2011 |title=The Hope Diamond in Full Color |publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History |url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/2_1_1_2.html |url-status=dead |access-date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525121643/http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/2_1_1_2.html |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |quote=Why Is It Blue? Light interacts with an impurity in the diamond to produce the unusual color. As the diamond grew, a few atoms of the element boron entered the crystal structure. The addition of just one boron atom for every million carbon atoms is enough to cause the deep blue color. Blue diamonds are extremely rare. Only about one in 100,000 diamonds is strongly colored, and blue is one of the rarest colors.}}</ref>

{{blockquote|People typically think of the Hope Diamond as a historic gem, but... it's [important] as a rare scientific specimen that can provide vital insights into our knowledge of diamonds and how they are formed in the earth.|Jeffrey Post, Smithsonian curator, 2008<ref name=twsI44hh/>}}

===India===
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Several accounts, based on remarks written by French gem merchant [[Jean-Baptiste Tavernier]], who obtained the gem in India in 1666, suggest that the gemstone originated in [[India]], in the [[Kollur mine]] in the [[Guntur]] district of [[Andhra Pradesh]] (which, at the time, was part of the [[Qutb Shahi dynasty|Golconda kingdom]] of the [[Qutb Shahi dynasty]]).<ref>''India Before Europe'', C.E.B. Asher and C. Talbot, Cambridge University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0-521-80904-5}}, p. 40</ref><ref>''A History of India'', Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, 3rd ed., Routledge, 1998, p. 160; {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}</ref><ref>''Deccan Heritage'', H. K. Gupta, A. Parasher and D. Balasubramanian, Indian National Science Academy, 2000, p. 144, Orient Blackswan, {{ISBN|81-7371-285-9}}</ref>

Tavernier's book, the ''Six Voyages'' (French: ''Les Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier''), contains sketches of several large diamonds that he sold to [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]], possibly in 1668<ref name=twsI35/> or 1669; a blue diamond is shown among these, and Tavernier mentions the mines at "Gani Coulour" (Kollur Mine) as a source of colored diamonds, but no direct mention of the stone is made. Historian [[Richard Kurin]] has built a highly speculative case for 1653 as the year of acquisition,<ref name="Kurin1">Kurin, Richard ''Hope Diamond, The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem'', pp. 29–30</ref> but the most that can be said with certainty is that Tavernier obtained the blue diamond during one of his five voyages to India between the years 1640 and 1667. One report suggests he took 25 diamonds to [[Paris]], including the large rock which became the Hope, and sold all of them to King Louis XIV.<ref name=twsI44ff/> Another report suggested that in 1669, Tavernier sold this large blue diamond along with approximately one thousand other diamonds to King Louis XIV for 220,000 [[French livre|livres]]—the equivalent of 147 kilograms of pure gold.<ref name=twsI44bb/><ref>Morel, Bernard, ''The French Crown Jewels'', p. 158.</ref>

In the historical novel, ''The French Blue'', gemologist and historian Richard W. Wise proposes that the [[Letters patent|patent of nobility]] granted to Tavernier by Louis XIV was part of the payment for the Tavernier Blue. According to the theory, [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] (the King's Finance Minister at the time) regularly sold noble offices and titles for cash; an outright [[patent of nobility]], according to Wise, was worth approximately 500,000 livres. That amount, plus the reported sale to the King, would have totaled about 720,000 livres, half the price of Tavernier's initial estimate for the gem.<ref>Wise, Richard W., ''The French Blue'', Brunswick House Press, 2010, Afterword p. 581. {{ISBN|978-0-9728223-6-7}}.</ref> There has been controversy regarding the actual weight of the stone: Morel believed that the {{convert|112.1875|carat|g oz|adj=on}}<ref name=twsI44jj/> stated in Tavernier's invoice would be in old French carats, thus 115.28 metric carats.

=== France ===
[[File:Toison.jpg|thumb|upright|Gouache of the great Golden Fleece of King [[Louis XV of France]], version 1 of 2008, painted by [[Pascal Monney]] (c. 16 × 6 cm).]]

In 1678, Louis XIV commissioned the [[Royal court|court]] [[Jewellery|jeweler]] Jean Pitau to recut the Tavernier Blue, resulting in a {{convert|67.125|carat|g oz|adj=on}} stone<ref name=twsI44fof/> which royal inventories thereafter listed as the '''Blue Diamond of the Crown of France''' ({{langx|fr|diamant bleu de la Couronne de France}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farges |first=François |date=September 18, 2008 |title=Two new discoveries concerning the "diamant bleu de la Couronne" ("French Blue" diamond) at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris |url=http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701095543/http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |archive-date=July 1, 2014 |access-date=August 29, 2014 |publisher=Stanford University & Le Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle}}</ref>). Later English-speaking historians have simply called it the French Blue. The king had the stone set on a [[Cravat (early)|cravat]]-pin.<ref name="Morel, p.166">Morel, p. 166</ref>

According to one report, Louis ordered Pitau<ref>alternate possible name: Jean Pitau (1617–1676)</ref> to "make him a piece to remember", and Pitau worked for two years, resulting in a "triangular-shaped {{convert|69|carat|g oz|adj=on}} gem the size of a [[pigeon]]'s egg that took the breath away as it snared the light, reflecting it back in bluish-grey rays."<ref name=twsI44ll/> It was set in [[gold]] and was supported by a [[ribbon]] for the neck which was worn by the king during ceremonies.<ref name=twsI44fof/>

{{blockquote|At the diamond's dazzling heart was a sun with seven facets—the sun being Louis' emblem, and seven being a number rich in meaning in biblical cosmology, indicating divinity and spirituality.|report by Agence France-Presse, 2008<ref name=twsI44ll/>}}

[[File:Marie Antoinette Execution.jpg|thumb|[[Marie Antoinette]] before her public execution by [[guillotine]] on [[Place de la Concorde|''Place de la Révolution'']], on October 16, 1793.]]
In 1749, Louis XIV's great-grandson, [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]], had the French Blue set into a more elaborate jeweled [[pendant]] for the ''[[Order of the Golden Fleece]]'' by court jeweler André Jacquemin.<ref name=twsI44fof/> The assembled piece included a red [[spinel]] of {{convert|107|carat|g oz|adj=on}} carats shaped as a [[dragon]] breathing "covetous flames," as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to suggest a [[Wool|fleece]] shape.<ref name=twsI44ll/>

The piece fell into disuse after the death of Louis XV. The diamond became the property of his grandson [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]].<ref name="twsI44bb" /> whose wife, queen [[Marie Antoinette]], used many of the [[French Crown Jewels]] for personal adornment by having the individual gems placed in new settings and combinations, but the French Blue remained in this pendant (except for a brief time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]]).

=== Theft, disappearance and concealment ===
On September 11, 1792, while Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned in the [[Square du Temple]] during the early stages of the French Revolution's [[Reign of Terror]], a group of thieves broke into the Royal Storehouse—the ''Hôtel du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne'' (now ''[[Hôtel de la Marine]]'')—stealing most of the Crown Jewels in a five-day looting spree.<ref name="twsI44ll" /> While many jewels were later recovered, including other pieces of the ''Order of the Golden Fleece'', the French Blue was not among them and it disappeared from history.<ref name="twsI35" />

On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was [[guillotine]]d; Marie Antoinette was guillotined on October 16 of the same year. These beheadings are commonly cited as a result of the diamond's "curse," but the historical record suggests that Marie Antoinette had never worn the Golden Fleece pendant because it had been reserved for the exclusive use of the King.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Order of the Golden Fleece {{!}} European knighthood order |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Order-of-the-Golden-Fleece |access-date=2021-05-08 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

A likely scenario is that the French Blue, sometimes also known as the Blue Diamond,<ref name=twsI44ll/> was "swiftly smuggled to [[London]]" after being seized in 1792 in Paris.<ref name=twsI44ll/> But, the exact rock known as the French Blue was never seen again, since it almost certainly was recut during this decades-long period of anonymity,<ref name=twsI44ll/> with the largest remaining piece becoming the Hope Diamond. One report suggested that the cut was a "butchered job" because it sheared off {{convert|23.5|carat|g oz|adj=on}} from the larger rock as well as hurting its "extraordinary luster."<ref name=twsI44ll/>

It was long believed that the Hope Diamond was cut from the French Blue,<ref name="twsI44mm" /> but confirmation came when a three-dimensional [[lead]]en model of the latter was rediscovered in the archives of the Paris [[National Museum of Natural History (France)|National Museum of Natural History]] in 2005. Previously, the dimensions of the French Blue had been known only from two drawings made in 1749 and 1789; although the model differs slightly from the drawings in some details, these details are identical to features of the Hope Diamond, allowing [[Computer-aided design|CAD]] technology to digitally reconstruct the French Blue around the recut stone.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 7, 2007 |title=Francois Farges Abstract |url=http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716115217/http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |access-date=October 11, 2010 |publisher=Mineralsciences.si.edu}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6946421 Hope Diamond originally came from French crown]  Associated Press</ref>

The leaden model revealed 20 unknown facets on the back of the French Blue. It also confirmed the diamond underwent a rather rough recut that removed the three points and reduced the thickness by a few millimeters. The [[Louis XIV|Sun King]]'s blue diamond became unrecognizable and the baroque style of the original cut was definitely lost.

Historians suggested that one burglar, Cadet Guillot, took several jewels, including the French Blue and the ''Côte-de-Bretagne'' [[spinel]], to [[Le Havre]] and then to [[London]], where the French Blue was cut in two pieces.

Morel adds that in 1796, Guillot attempted to resell the ''Côte-de-Bretagne'' in France but was forced to relinquish it to fellow thief Lancry de la Loyelle, who put Guillot into [[debtors' prison]].

In a contrasting report, historian Richard Kurin speculated that the "theft" of the French Crown Jewels was in fact engineered by the revolutionary leader [[Georges Danton]] as part of a plan to bribe an opposing military commander, [[Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick|Duke Karl Wilhelm of Brunswick]].<ref name=twsI44ll/> When under attack by [[Napoleon]] in 1805, Karl Wilhelm may have had the French Blue recut to disguise its identity; in this form, the stone could have come to Great Britain in 1806, when his family fled there to join his daughter [[Caroline of Brunswick]]. Although Caroline was the wife of the Prince Regent (later [[George IV of the United Kingdom]]), she lived apart from her husband, and financial straits sometimes forced her to quietly sell her own jewels to support her household. Caroline's nephew, [[Charles II, Duke of Brunswick|Duke Karl Friedrich]], was later known to possess a {{convert|13.75|carat|g oz|adj=on}} blue diamond which was widely thought to be another piece of the French Blue.

This smaller diamond's present whereabouts are unknown, and the recent CAD reconstruction of the French Blue fits too tightly around the Hope Diamond to allow for the existence of a sister stone of that size.

=== United Kingdom ===
A blue diamond with the same shape, size, and color as the Hope Diamond was recorded by [[John Francillon]] as in the possession of the London diamond merchant [[Daniel Eliason]] in September 1812, the earliest point when the history of the Hope Diamond can be definitively fixed,<ref name="twsI44fof">{{Cite magazine |date=July 11, 2011 |title=The Hope Diamond |url=http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/hope.htm |magazine=The Smithsonian |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name=twsI44ll/> although a second, less definitive report claims that the Hope Diamond's "authentic history" can only be traced back to 1830.<ref name="twsI44mm">{{Cite news |last=Willson |first=T. Edgar |date=February 7, 1911 |title=Editor Jewelers' Circular Writes of the Stories of Misfortunes |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F11FF355A15738DDDA00894DA405B818DF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011 |quote=As far as he can learn, the authentic history of this gem goes back only to 1830...}}</ref> The jewel was a "massive blue stone of {{convert|45.54|carat|g oz|adj=on}}"<ref name=twsI44ll/> and weighed {{convert|177|gr|abbr=on}} ({{convert|4|gr|abbr=on}} = 1 carat).<ref name=twsI44fof/> The 1812 date was just days after 20 years since the theft of the French Blue, just as the [[statute of limitations]] for the crime had taken effect.<ref name=twsI44ll/>

While the diamond had disappeared for two decades, there were questions whether this diamond now in Great Britain was exactly the same one as had belonged to the French kings. Scientific investigation in 2008 confirmed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the Hope Diamond and that owned by the kings of France were, indeed, the same gemstone.<ref name="twsI44fof" /><ref name="twsI44ll">{{Cite news |last=Agence France-Presse |date=November 18, 2008 |title=U.S. has Sun King's stolen gem, say French experts |publisher=Canada.com |url=http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=1f5933e7-add6-4bd8-a98a-b7edc1819129&sponsor= |url-status=dead |access-date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110135923/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=1f5933e7-add6-4bd8-a98a-b7edc1819129&sponsor= |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |quote=French experts said on Tuesday they had proof that the Hope Diamond, a star exhibit in Washington's Smithsonian Institution, is a legendary gem once owned by King Louis XIV that was looted in the French Revolution. New evidence unearthed in France's National Museum of Natural History shows beyond reasonable doubt that the Hope Diamond is the same steely-blue stone once sported by the Sun King, they said.}}</ref>

[[File:George IV 1821 color.jpg|thumb|[[Portrait of George IV|Coronation portrait]] of [[George IV of the United Kingdom]].]]
[[File:QueenCaroline1820.jpg|thumb|There is speculation that George's wife, [[Caroline of Brunswick]], may have helped procure the diamond for the British monarch, but records are lacking.]]
There are conflicting reports about what happened to the diamond during these years. Eliason's diamond may have been acquired by [[George IV of the United Kingdom]],<ref name=twsI35/> possibly through [[Caroline of Brunswick]];<ref name=twsI44ll/> however, there is no record of the ownership in the [[Royal Archives]] at Windsor, although some secondary evidence exists in the form of contemporary writings and artwork, and George IV tended to mix up the Crown property of the [[Crown jewels]] with family heirlooms and his own personal property.

A source at the Smithsonian suggested there were "several references" suggesting that George had indeed owned the diamond.<ref name=twsI44fof/> After his death in 1830, it has been alleged that some of this mixed collection was stolen by George's last mistress, [[Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham|Elizabeth Conyngham]], and some of his personal effects were discreetly liquidated to cover the many debts he had left behind him. Another report states that the king's debts were "so enormous" that the diamond was probably sold through "private channels".<ref name=twsI44fof/> In either case, the blue diamond was not retained by the British royal family.

The stone was later reported to have been acquired by a rich London banker named [[Thomas Hope (1769–1831)|Thomas Hope]], for either $65,000<ref name=twsI44bb/> or $90,000.<ref name=twsI44jj/> It has been suggested that Eliason may have been a "front" for Hope,<ref name=twsI44ll/> acting not as a diamond merchant venturing money on his own account, but rather as an agent to acquire the diamond for the banker. In 1839, the Hope Diamond appeared in a published catalog of the gem collection of his brother [[Henry Philip Hope]], members of the Anglo-Dutch banking family [[Hope & Co.]]<ref name=twsI44fof/>

The stone was set in a fairly simple [[medallion]] surrounded by many smaller white diamonds, which he sometimes lent to Louisa de la Poer Beresford, the widow of his brother, Thomas Hope, for society [[Ball (dance)|balls]]. After falling into the ownership of the Hope family, the stone came to be known as the "Hope Diamond".<ref name="twsI44bb" />

Henry Philip Hope died in 1839, the same year as the publication of his collection catalog. His three nephews, the sons of Thomas and Louisa, fought in court for ten years over his inheritance, and ultimately the collection was split up. The oldest nephew, [[Henry Thomas Hope]], received eight of the most valuable gems, including the Hope Diamond. It was displayed in the [[Great Exhibition]] of London in 1851 and at the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris]], but was usually kept in a bank vault. In 1861, Henry Thomas Hope's only child, Henrietta, married [[Henry Pelham-Clinton, 6th Duke of Newcastle|Henry Pelham-Clinton]] (and later [[Duke of Newcastle]]).

When Hope died on December 4, 1862, his wife Anne Adele inherited the gem, but she feared that the profligate lifestyle of her son-in-law might cause him to sell the Hope properties. Upon Adele's death in 1884, the entire Hope estate, including the Hope Diamond, was entrusted to Henrietta's younger son, [[Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 8th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne|Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton]], on the condition that he add the name of "Hope" to his own surnames when he reached the age of legal majority.

As Lord Francis Hope, this grandson received his legacy in 1887. However, he had only a [[Life estate|life interest]] in his inheritance, meaning that he could not sell any part of it without court permission.

In 1894, Lord Francis Hope met the American concert hall singer [[May Yohé]], who has been described as "the sensation of two continents",<ref name="twsI44bb" /> and they were married the same year; one account suggests that Yohé wore the Hope Diamond on at least one occasion.<ref name="twsI44bb" />

She later claimed that she had worn it at social gatherings and had an exact replica made for her performances, but her husband claimed otherwise. Lord Francis lived beyond his means, and this eventually caught up with him, leading to marriage troubles and financial reverses, and he found that he had to sell the diamond.<ref name="twsI44bb" />

In 1896, his [[bankruptcy]] was discharged, but, as he could not sell the Hope Diamond without the court's permission, he was supported financially by his wife during these intervening years. In 1901, the financial situation had changed, and after a "long legal fight,"<ref name="twsI44ff" /> he was given permission to sell the Hope Diamond by an order of the Master in Chancery<ref name="twsI44ff" /> to "pay off debts".<ref name="twsI44ll" /> But May Yohé ran off with a gentleman friend named Putnam Strong, who was a son of the former [[New York City]] mayor [[William L. Strong]]. Francis Hope and May Yohé were divorced in 1902.<ref name="twsI44bb" />

Francis sold the diamond for £29,000 (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|0.029|1901|r=2}}}} million today), to Adolph Weil, a London jewel merchant. Weil sold the stone in 1901<ref>{{Cite news |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=14 November 1901 |title=£30,000 for the Hope Diamond |work=Leeds Mercury |location=England |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000747/19011114/181/0006 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 October 2022 |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> to the diamond dealer Simon Frankel, based in New York and/or London<ref name=twsI44bb/> who took it to New York. One report stated that he had paid $250,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.25|1901|r=1|fmt=c}} million today).<ref name="twsI44ff">{{Cite news |date=November 14, 1901 |title=Hope Diamond Coming Here: The Famous Blue Stone Bought by a New Yorker – Price Said to be $250,000. |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A10FC3C5F12738DDDAD0994D9415B818CF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011 |quote=The report that the famous Hope blue diamond is going to New York is correct. It is in the possession of a member of a New York firm now on his way to America from London. The heirloom was sold by order of the Master in Chancery.}}</ref> However, in New York it was evaluated to be worth $141,032 (${{Inflation|US|0.141032|1901|r=2|fmt=c}} million today).

=== United States (1902–present) ===
[[File:HopeDiamondwithLighting2.JPG|thumb|The Hope Diamond with case lights turned on.]]
Accounts vary about what happened to the diamond during the years 1902–1907; one account suggested that it lay in the William & Theodore safe during these years while the jewelers took it out periodically to show it to wealthy Americans; a rival account, probably invented to help add "mystery" to the Hope Diamond story, suggested that some persons had bought it but apparently sold it back to Frankel.<ref name=twsI44bb/> There were reports in one story in ''[[The New York Times]]'' of several owners of the gem, perhaps who had bought it from Frankel and owned it temporarily who met with ill-fortune,<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Hope Diamond |url=https://www.si.edu/spotlight/hope-diamond/history |access-date=2021-05-08 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> but this report conflicts with the more likely possibility that the gem remained in the hands of the Frankel jewelry firm during these years. Like many jewelry firms, the Frankel business ran into financial difficulties during the [[depression of 1907]] and referred to the gem as the "hoodoo diamond."<ref name=twsI44bb/><ref name="w679">{{cite news| title= The Relentless "Thaw Hoodoo"| work=Atlanta Georgian |location= Atlanta, Georgia| via=The Library of Congress | date=January 18, 1914 | url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89053729/1914-01-18/ed-3/?sp=50& | access-date=December 20, 2024}}</ref>

In 1908, Frankel sold the diamond for $400,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.4|1908|r=2|fmt=c}} million today)<ref>Note: The $400,000 price may have been exaggerated, since a newspaper report in 1908 was that experts had thought it was inflated, and that the true price at that time may have been closer to the "air bidding price" of $250,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.25|1908|r=2|fmt=c}} million today); for further information see [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00D10FA3F5A17738DDDAF0894DD405B888CF1D3 NY Times article 1908] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327054836/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00D10FA3F5A17738DDDAF0894DD405B888CF1D3 |date=March 27, 2014 }}</ref> to a Salomon or Selim Habib, a wealthy Turkish diamond collector,<ref name=twsI43/> reportedly on behalf of Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II|Abdulhamid]] of the Ottoman Empire; however, on June 24, 1909, the stone was included in an auction of Habib's assets to settle his own debts,<ref name=twsI44fof/> and the auction catalog explicitly stated that the Hope Diamond was one of only two gems in the collection which had never been owned by the Sultan. A contrary report, however, suggested that Sultan Abdul Hamid did own the gem but ordered Habib to sell it when his throne "began to totter."<ref name=twsI44bb/> Habib reportedly sold the stone in Paris in 1909 for $80,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.08|1909|r=2|fmt=c}} million today).<ref name=twsI44bb/> The Parisian jewel merchant Simon Rosenau bought the Hope Diamond for 400,000 [[franc]]s and resold it in 1910 to [[Pierre Cartier (jeweler)|Pierre Cartier]] for 550,000 francs. In 1910, it was offered for $150,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.15|1910|r=2|fmt=c}} million today), according to one report.<ref name="twsI41">{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1910 |title=Hope Diamond Again Offered for Sale; Price Said to be Only $150,000, Though It Once Was Bought for $400,000. May Come to America Prospective Buyers Inspect it in London – Stone Has a Remarkable History |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30C11F9345D16738DDDA90B94D8415B808DF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Edward Beale McLean and Evalyn Walsh.png|thumb|''[[Washington Post]]'' scion [[Edward Beale McLean]] and his wife, mining heiress [[Evalyn Walsh McLean]], in 1912. The couple owned the Hope Diamond for many years.]]
Pierre Cartier tried to sell the Hope Diamond to Washington, D.C. [[socialite]] [[Evalyn Walsh McLean]] and her husband in 1910.<ref name=twsI35/> Cartier was a consummate salesman who used an understated presentation to entice Mrs. McLean.<ref name=twsI44nnx/> He described the gem's illustrious history to her while keeping it concealed underneath special wrapping paper.<ref name=twsI44nnx/> The suspense worked: McLean became impatient to the point where she suddenly requested to see the stone. She recalled later that Cartier "held before our eyes the Hope Diamond."<ref name="twsI44nnx">{{Cite news |last=Evalyn Walsh McLean |date=July 9, 2011 |title=...the diamond's notorious past |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/hope_nav/hnav_level_1/1_past_hopfrm.html |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> Nevertheless, she initially rejected the offer. Cartier had it reset. She found the stone much more appealing in this new modern style. There were conflicting reports about the sale in ''[[The New York Times]]''; one account suggested that the young McLean couple had agreed to purchase the diamond, but after having learned about its unfortunate supposed history, the couple had wanted to back out of the deal<ref name="twsI44gg">{{Cite news |date=March 12, 1911 |title=M'Leans Didn't Know Hope Diamond Tale; Wealthy Couple Unaware That the Famous Gem Had Brought Misfortune to Its Owners |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10716F6385517738DDDAB0994DB405B818DF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> since they knew nothing of the "history of misfortunes that have beset its various owners."<ref name=twsI44gg/>
{{blockquote|Both Ned McLean and his pretty wife are quite young, and in a way unsophisticated, although they were born and reared in an atmosphere of wealth and luxury. All their lives they have known more of jewelry, finery, banquets, automobiles, horses, and other articles of pleasure than they have of books, with their wealth of knowledge.|report in ''The New York Times'', March 1911<ref name=twsI44gg/>}}

The brouhaha over the diamond's supposed "ill luck" prompted a worried editor of ''The Jewelers' Circular-Weekly'' to write:
{{blockquote|No mention of any ill luck having befallen Eliason, Hope, or any of their descendants was ever made. The Frankels surely were very prosperous while the stone was in their possession, as were the dealers who held it in Europe. Habib's misfortune referred to in the newspaper accounts occurred long after he had sold the stone... As Francis Hope never had the stone and May Yohe probably never saw it ... the newspaper accounts at the time mentioned were laughed at, but since then it has been the custom not only to revive these stories every time mention of the stone appears in the public press, but to add to them fictitious incidents of misfortune as to alleged possessors of the stone at various times.|T. Edgar Willson, in an editorial in ''The New York Times'', 1911<ref name=twsI44mm/>}}

The tenuous deal involved wrangling among attorneys for both Cartier and the McLeans, but finally, in 1911, the couple bought the gem for over $300,000 (over ${{Inflation|US|0.3|1911|r=1|fmt=c}} million today),<ref name="twsI44bb">{{Cite news |date=January 29, 1911 |title=J.R. M'Lean'sS Son Buys Hope Diamond; $300,000 for Jewel Owned by Louis XVI and Worn by Marie Antoinette and May Yohe |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30813F63C5517738DDDA00A94D9405B818DF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> although there are differing estimates of the sales price at $150,000 and $180,000. An alternative scenario is that the McLeans may have fabricated concern about the supposed "curse" to generate publicity to increase the value of their investment.

A description was that the gemstone "lay on a bed of white silk and surrounded by many small white diamonds cut pear shaped".<ref name=twsI44bb/> The new setting was the current platinum framework surrounded by a row of sixteen diamonds which alternated between old mine cut and pear-shaped variants. Mrs. McLean wore it to a "brilliant reception" in February 1912 when it was reported that it was the first time it had been worn in public since it had "changed owners."<ref name="twsI44dd">{{Cite news |date=February 3, 1912 |title=Hope Diamond Worn at M'Lean Dinner; Famous Gem Seen for the First Time in Public Since It Changed Owners |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C17FB3C5813738DDDAA0894DA405B828DF1D3 |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> She would "sport the diamond at social events"<ref name=twsI35/> and wore it to numerous social occasions that she had organized.
{{blockquote|The Hope Diamond in its original pendant must have looked fantastic at parties circa the 1920s, when it hung around the neck of owner Evalyn Walsh McLean's Great Dane, Mike.|report in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', 2010<ref name="twsI42">{{Cite news |last=Nancy DeWolf Smith |date=November 19, 2010 |title=Searching Lennon's Psyche |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704104104575622703876033526 |access-date=2011-07-09}}</ref>}}

There were reports that she misplaced it at parties,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lyons, Leonard |date=May 1, 1947 |title=Mrs. MacLean's Fabulous Diamond Frequently Lost Like A Bauble |work=The Miami News |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bAgtAAAAIBAJ&pg=6186,229769&dq=stork+club |access-date=September 12, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> deliberately and frequently, and then make a children's game out of "finding the Hope", and times when she hid the diamond somewhere on her estate during the "lavish parties she threw and invite guests to find it."<ref name=twsI35/> The stone prompted elaborate security precautions:

{{blockquote|William Schindele, a former Secret Service man, has been engaged to guard the stone. He in turn will be guarded by Leo Costello and Simeon Blake, private detectives. The stone will be kept at the McLean mansion during the day and each night will be deposited in a safe deposit vault. When Mrs. McLean wears the gem at balls and receptions arrangements have been made to keep the safe deposit building open until after the function that the stone may be safely stored away. A special automobile has been purchased to convey the guards to and from the house to the trust company's building.|report in ''[[The New York Times]]'', 1911<ref name=twsI44bb/>}}

But the stone was not stolen during their ownership. When Mrs. McLean died in 1947, she bequeathed the diamond to her grandchildren through a will which insisted that her former property would remain in the custody of [[trustee]]s until the eldest child had reached 25 years of age. This requirement would have prevented any sale for the next two decades. However, the trustees gained permission to sell her jewels to settle her debts, and in 1949 sold them to [[New York City|New York]] diamond merchant [[Harry Winston]]. He purchased McLean's "entire jewelry collection".<ref name=twsI35/> Over the next decade, Winston exhibited McLean's necklace in his "Court of Jewels," a tour of jewels around the United States,<ref name=twsI35/> as well as various promotional events and charity balls. The diamond appeared on the television quiz show ''[[The Name's the Same]]'', in an episode which first aired on August 16, 1955,<ref name="tws3JanW11">{{Cite news |date=August 16, 1955 |title=Clifton Fadiman (biography) |work=Hollywood Walk of Fame |url=http://hwof.com/star/radio/clifton-fadiman/1225?switcher=true |url-status=dead |access-date=January 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211043726/http://hwof.mobi/star/radio/clifton-fadiman/1225?switcher=true |archive-date=December 11, 2015 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> when a teenaged contestant with the actual name ''Hope Diamond'' was one of the mystery guests, as well as at the August 1958 [[Canadian National Exhibition]].<ref name=twsI34/> At some point, Winston also had the Hope Diamond's bottom [[facet]] slightly recut to increase its brilliance.

===Smithsonian ownership===
[[File:Hope Diamond US Mail parcel-1958.jpg|thumb|right|[[Registered mail|Registered Mail]] package used to deliver the Hope Diamond to the National Museum of Natural History.]]
[[File:HopeDiamondUnset.JPG|right|thumb|The Hope Diamond prior to being put in its new setting at the National Gem Collection.]]
[[File:hopediamondnewset.jpg|right|thumb|The Hope Diamond in the "Embracing Hope" setting.]]
Smithsonian [[mineralogist]] [[George Switzer (mineralogist)|George Switzer]] is credited with persuading jeweler Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond for a proposed national gem collection to be housed at the [[National Museum of Natural History]].<ref name="wp">{{Cite news |last=Holley |first=Joe |date=March 27, 2008 |title=George Switzer; Got Hope Diamond for Smithsonian |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032603029.html |access-date=April 13, 2008}}</ref> On November 10, 1958,<ref name=twsI44ll/> Winston acquiesced, sending it through [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Mail]] in a box wrapped in brown paper as simple [[registered mail]]<ref name=twsI35/> insured for $1 million at a cost of $145.29, of which $2.44 was for postage and the balance insurance.<ref name=twsI35/><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 29, 1909 |title=National Postal Museum |url=http://postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Hope_Diamond.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927203629/http://postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Hope_Diamond.html |archive-date=September 27, 2013 |access-date=April 16, 2014 |publisher=Postalmuseum.si.edu}}</ref> Upon its arrival it became Specimen #217868.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Winston: The Man Who Gave Away The Gem |url=http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/hope_winston.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826234212/http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/hope_winston.html |archive-date=August 26, 2009 |access-date=August 24, 2009 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |quote=The addition of Specimen #217868 to the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is perhaps one of Winston's most laudable contributions to the American people.}}</ref>

Winston had never believed in any of the tales about the curse; he donated the diamond with the hope that it would help the United States "establish a gem collection."<ref name=twsI34/>

Winston died many years later, in 1978, of a heart attack. Winston's gift, according to Smithsonian curator Dr. Jeffrey Post, indeed helped spur additional gifts to the museum.<ref name="twsI44ee" />

For its first four decades in the [[National Museum of Natural History]], the Hope Diamond lay in its necklace inside a glass-fronted safe as part of the gems and jewelry gallery, except for a few brief excursions: a 1962 exhibition to the [[Louvre]];<ref name=twsI44fof/> the 1965 [[Rand Easter Show]] in Johannesburg, South Africa;<ref name=twsI44fof/> and two visits back to Harry Winston's premises in New York City, once in 1984,<ref name=twsI44fof/> and once for a 50th anniversary celebration in 1996.<ref name=twsI44fof/>

To guard against theft during the diamond's trip to the 1962 Louvre exhibition, Switzer traveled to Paris with the Hope Diamond tucked inside a velvet pouch sewn by his wife.<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=April 6, 2008 |title=George Switzer, 92, Dies; Started a Gem Treasury |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/us/06SWITZER.html |access-date=April 9, 2008}}</ref> The Hope Diamond was placed into the pouch, which was pinned inside Switzer's pants pocket for the flight.<ref name="nytimes" />

When the Smithsonian's gallery was renovated in 1997, the necklace was moved onto a rotating pedestal inside a cylinder made of {{convert|3|in|mm|adj=on}} thick bulletproof glass in its own display room, adjacent to the main exhibit of the National Gem Collection, in the [[Janet Annenberg Hooker]] Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. The Hope Diamond is the most popular jewel on display and the collection's centerpiece.<ref name="twsI37">{{Cite news |date=February 2, 1988 |title=Washington Talk: Briefing; New Smithsonian Gem |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/02/us/washington-talk-briefing-new-smithsonian-gem.html |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>

In 1988, specialists with the [[Gemological Institute of America]] graded it and noticed "evidence of wear" and its "remarkably strong phosphorescence" with its clarity "slightly affected by a whitish graining which is common to blue diamonds."<ref name="twsI44fof" /> A highly sensitive [[Tristimulus colorimeter|colorimeter]] found tiny traces of a "very slight violet component" which is imperceptible to normal vision.<ref name="twsI44fof" />

In 2005, the Smithsonian published a year-long computer-aided geometry research which officially acknowledged that the Hope Diamond is, in fact, cut from the stolen [[Tavernier Blue|French Blue]] crown jewel.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=February 9, 2005 |title=Tech Solves Hope Diamond Mystery |url=http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/02/66560 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=December 25, 2007}}</ref>

In 2009, the Smithsonian announced a temporary new setting for the jewel to celebrate a half-century at the [[National Museum of Natural History]]. Starting in September 2009 it was exhibited as a stand-alone gem with no setting. It had been removed from its setting for cleaning from time to time, but this was the first time it would be on public display by itself. Previously it had been shown in a platinum setting, surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds, suspended from a chain containing forty-five diamonds.<ref name=":0" />

The Hope returned to its traditional setting in late 2010.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=August 19, 2009 |title=Hope Diamond to get new setting for anniversary |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-19-hope-diamond-setting_N.htm |access-date=January 15, 2011}}</ref>

On November 18, 2010, the Hope Diamond was unveiled and displayed at the Smithsonian in a temporary newly designed necklace called "Embracing Hope", created by the Harry Winston firm.<ref name="twsI35">{{Cite news |last=AFP |date=November 20, 2010 |title=Storied Hope Diamond gets a new necklace |publisher=France 24 |url=http://www.france24.com/en/20101120-storied-hope-diamond-gets-new-necklace |access-date=July 9, 2011}}{{dead link|date=April 2017}}</ref> Three designs for the new setting, all white diamonds and white metal, were created and the public voted on the final version.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Righthand |first2=Jess |title=See the Hope Diamond in its New Setting, Unveiled Today at Natural History |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/see-the-hope-diamond-in-its-new-setting-unveiled-today-at-natural-history-2603861/ |access-date=2022-01-19 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

The Hope Diamond also is resting on a new dark blue neck form, which the Harry Winston firm commissioned from display organization, Pac Team Group. Previously, the Hope Diamond had been displayed as a loose gem since late summer of 2009 when it was removed from its former Cartier-designed setting. A Smithsonian curator described it as "priceless" because it was "irreplaceable", although it was reported to be insured for $250 million.<ref name="twsI35" />

On January 13, 2012, the diamond was returned to its historic setting, and the current necklace was implanted with another diamond worth "at least a million dollars". The necklace with the new diamond will be{{update inline|date=February 2024}} sold to benefit the Smithsonian.<ref name="twsI35" />