Nov 26th, 2012
Le bleu de France…
Described as the most famous diamond in the world- the Hope Diamond, also known as “Le bleu de France” or “Le Bijou du Roi”, is a large, 45.52 carat deep-blue diamond, now housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.
It is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, but exhibits red phosphorescence after exposure to ultraviolet light. It is classified as a Type IIb diamond, and is notorious for supposedly being cursed. It has a long recorded history with few gaps in which it changed hands numerous times on its way from India to France to Britain and to the United States.
Hollywood couldn’t make up a drama like the story of the Hope Diamond. It’s a fantastic mix of jaw-dropping beauty, mythic curse, untold wealth, larger-than-life characters and cutting-edge science. Time for Ridley Scott to step up to the plate?This is an incredible story of which at least the last 360 years have been recorded, and is certainly worth reading up when you have a moment.
The most concise historical summary is here
Sources:
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
The Smithsonian Institute
Famous Diamonds
You must be logged in to post a comment.