Hope Diamond
38°53′27″N 77°01′33″W / 38.89094°N 77.02573°W
The Hope Diamond on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. | |
| 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 |
The Hope Diamond is a 45.52 carats (9.104 g; 0.3211 oz) blue-violet diamond that has been famed for its great size since the 17th century. It was extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India,. The Hope Diamond is a blue diamond. Its exceptional size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds.
The Hope Diamond is a Golconda diamond. Its recorded history begins in 1666, when the French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased it in India in uncut form. 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, received and re-cut, with the largest section of the diamond appearing under the Hope name in an 1839 gem catalogue from the Hope banking family, from whom the diamond's name derives.
The Hope Diamond's last private owner was the American jeweler Harry Winston, who bought it in 1947 from the estate of the mining heiress and socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean. After exhibiting the diamond on tour for several years, Winston set it in a necklace and it was donated in 1958 to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it remains on permanent exhibition.