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Name : Hope Diamond
What it is : A 45.52 - kt magnificent downcast diamond
The Hope Diamond gets its blueish color due to trace amounts of boron, a chemical element, in the stone.
Where it was find : It was long believe that the diamond was extracted from the Kollur Mine in Guntur , India . However , new grounds has bring out that it , along with other Golconda rhombus , may have follow from theWajrakarur kimberlite fieldin Andhra Pradesh , located about 186 miles ( 300 klick ) from where they were mined .
What is its note value : The diamond is worth more than $ 250 million , according to theChicago Diamond Buyer .
What it tells us about the past :
The pit itself has change hands legion times since its uncovering in the 17th hundred . It was supposedly purchase by Jean - Baptiste Tavernier , a French gem merchandiser , in its untrimmed form . Over the years , the piece has also been own and modified by royalty , including Louis XIV ( Louis the Great ) , and jeweler , including Harry Winston of New York City , who later donate it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington , D.C. in 1958 , concord to theSmithsonian .
It ’s been allege that thediamond is cursedand that Tavernier never actually bought the Oliver Stone , but rather — in an example of archaeological looting — he allegedly stole it off of a Hindu statue at an Indian temple . Once the temple ’s elders discover the diamond was missing , they are said to haveput a curse on whoever was in possession of the item , according to theCape Town Diamond Museumin South Africa . Over the years , many who owned the diamond purportedly fall under the curse ’s spell and lead to unexpected deaths and misfortunes . Louis XIV andMarie Antoinettewere just two of the curse ’s say victims . In 1839 , the adamant was acquire by a precious gems collector named Henry Philip Hope , for whom the diamond is now make .
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Today , the baseball field pendant is ringed by 16 clean diamonds and is affixed to a string decorated with 45 white diamond , according to the Smithsonian . Despite its similarity to another fictional diamond — the Heart of the Ocean , worn by Kate Winslet ’s character Rose DeWitt Bukater in the 1997 movie " Titanic " — the Hope Diamond never sailed on the fateful ship .
It ’s presently take for at theSmithsonian ’s National Museum of Natural Historyin Washington , D.C.
