with diamond "Hope" is a legend more than with any other stone in the world.In addition to the magnitude and extraordinary rich blue he can "boast" mysterious and mystical status "cursed stone."Was common belief that anyone who gets hold of a jewel, will chase bad luck and suffer as a result of the mysterious death ...
about four centuries ago Almaz "Hope" was discovered by Indian miners, presumably Collura mine in Golconda.In Europe, the diamond was through the efforts of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, whose biography deserves not so much a book as a Hollywood saga.Born into a family of merchant cards, the boy fell ill with fever wandering, first traveled to Europe, and then set about Asia.He easily took over the languages and customs of countries visited.He became the first foreigner to enter the eastern masters, thanks to the honesty and interest in everything new.Frenchman XVII century saw unimaginable turban - Jean-Baptiste carried it with ease, as well as exotic oriental caftans.Golconda Mines Europe seemed sweet tale up until an enterprising trader Tavernier not visited them and described the process of mining gems in detail.He became the official supplier of stone to Louis XIV and received from him the title of a nobleman - for a blue diamond with a purple tint in 44 carats.
This stone was brought to the court, along with 24 diamonds as large, but the "Sun King" has attracted exactly this natural wonder, an extremely rare, blue.
With this and start a unique story of the stone, full of sorrow, failure, vanity, blood and death ... According to legend, anyone who not only owned or worn stone, but even those who just before it touched, pursued the failure todeath ...
Louis decided to confine him in the shape of a heart and present mistress.Jean-Baptiste told the king that, according to legend, a long time ago was a diamond eye of Lord Rama, but omitted that it was the left eye - car.Gifted mistress soon fell out of favor, the stone returned to the monarch, and in Europe with the flow of eastern jewels came the plague.
Tavernier was torn to pieces by dogs, "the Sun King" dancing, stepped on a rusty nail and died of gangrene.Louis XV, who became the owner of the cursed stone, gave it the Marquise de Pompadour, who soon died of pneumonia.
After the death of Louis XV diamond got Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI.Both of them, like the rest of the royal family, were executed during the revolution.Princess Lamballe, which Queen Marie Antoinette once gave vilified diamond, was torn to pieces by angry French mob.All the treasures of the French crown were confiscated and plundered in the name of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Stone got a certain cadet, he sold it to the jeweler, the jeweler's son got rid of him in London and prior to that worked at a stone cutter.All four members died operation - each in its own way, but quite ominous.
It should be noted that the blue diamond jeweler was divided into parts.From this point you can observe the way almost one-third of the original splendor of the stone.English banker, Henry Hope, bought the diamond in 1839, gave him your name Blue Hope - Blue Hope, died of illness, of unknown medicine.His son had been poisoned, and the grandson broke.
When the nephew of Lord Francis Hope Lost in the card to pieces and wanted to get out of debt with the help of the diamond, the family refused to leave their new owners - there was a long trial.In 1901, Francis won the battle, but before he was wounded in the leg and lost it.
Stone bought Simon Frankel, a New York jeweler, who brought a diamond in the United States.He "Hope" lay six years in the safe.He was forced to sell it due to financial difficulties during the Great Depression.
Egypt Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who became the owner of "Hope", presented it to his concubine - she was killed, and the sultan was expelled from the country.In addition, because of the curse suffered and a few courtiers: the servant, who polished stone, officials are trying to steal the "Hope" and guardian of the Sultan's treasures.
Prince Korytkovsky (in another version - Kandovitsky) presented the diamond Parisian dancer Lawrence Ledyue then shot charmer out of jealousy, and then he was killed in an assassination attempt.The next owner of the "Hope", a Spaniard, was absorbed deep.After - the couple that owned a stone was killed in 1912 along with the "Titanic."
Almaz has changed owners several times before you got into the hands of Evelyn Walsh McLean of Washington socialite.She believed that all of the items that bring failure, for it became talismans.On the threshold of the seller, she said: "All that other death, for me - pure fun."There are people unhappy old, and looking at photos McLean, you can see the lady, as if astonished amount of trouble, dropped out on its share.For her to buy a deadly stone was a challenge, "Speak, worse things happen?" Evelyn was very eccentric and groovy girl, she loved to shock people.She loved all show stone, often borrowed her friends on their wedding day ("Hope" got her hands on a necklace), carried him to the hospital for the soldiers carried him on a fishing trip, took with him to the American race, leaving him in the most unexpectedplaces, etc.
Despite the fact that Evelyn wore it as a talisman, she suffered from the curse, too: at the age of nine years, her son was hit by a car and died;her daughter at the age of 25 years committed suicide.Her husband, a prosperous businessman, the owner of the newspaper "Washington Post", left her for another woman, then became an alcoholic, had gone mad and died in a mental hospital.The whole business, of course, went on the decline, and Evelyn barely sells newspapers for a pittance.
After her death, shortly after the death of her daughter all the jewelry went under the hammer in 1949, to pay off debts, Evelyn."Hope" has bought a New York jeweler Harry Winston, who gave it to display, or to wear at several charity events.
In 1958, Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, as has long thought about creating a national collection of precious stones.There's a diamond is to this day.But here, the stone was fighting with people: people vezshy stone in the museum, broke his leg in a car accident and then hurt his head in another accident, and after that lost their home in a fire.
Diamond left the Smithsonian only four times: to showcase at the Louvre (1962), Johannesburg (1965) and New York (1984).In 1996, the Hope diamond necklace was handed Harry Winston in New York for cleaning and minor restoration work.
Does curse today - hard to say ...
Photo source: shillingfordslate.com
Articles Source: adonay-forum.com
