the hope diamond was found at smithsonian institution and is where it is now.
the hope diamond was found at smithsonian institution and is where it is now.
where was the hope diamond found and where is it now?
smithsonian institution
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 golconda kingdom), in the seventeenth century. it is unclear who had initially owned the gemstone, where it had been found, by whom, and in what condition. but the first historical records suggest that tavernier obtained the stone in 1666, possibly by purchase or by theft. tavernier brought to paris a large uncut stone which was the first known precursor to the hope diamond. this large stone became known as the tavernier blue diamond. it was a crudely cut triangular shaped stone of . another estimate is that it weighed before it was cut. 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 in possibly 1668 or 1669; while the blue diamond is shown among these, tavernier mentions the mines at "gani" kollur as a source of colored diamonds, but made no direct mention of the stone. historian richard kurin builds a highly speculative case for 1653 as the year of acquisition, 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. another report suggested that in 1669, tavernier sold this large blue diamond along with approximately one thousand other diamonds to king louis xiv of france for 220,000 livres, the equivalent of 147 kilograms of pure gold. in a newly published historical novel, "the french blue", gemologist and historian richard w. wise proposed that the patent of nobility granted tavernier by louis xiv was a part of the payment for the tavernier blue. according to the theory, during that period colbert, the king's finance minister, regularly sold offices and noble titles for cash, and an outright patent of nobility, according to wise, was worth approximately 500,000 livres making a total of 720,000 livres, a price about half tavernier's estimate of the gem's true value. there has been some controversy regarding the actual weight of the stone; morel believed that the 112 carats stated in tavernier's invoice would be in old french carats, thus 115.28 metric carats.
hope diamond
a blue diamond with the same shape, size, and color as the hope diamond was recorded by john francillon 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, although a second less definitive report claims that the hope diamond's "authentic history" can only be traced back to 1830. the jewel was a "massive blue stone of 45.54 carats" and weighed 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat). it is often pointed out that the 1812 date was almost exactly twenty years after the theft of the "french blue", just as the statute of limitations for the crime had taken effect. 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, but 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, in the sense that the hope diamond had been cut from the "french blue".
hope diamond