The Most Infamous Diamond in the World

The diamond known thought the world for its infamous curse is the fabled Hope Diamond , a 45.52 carat steel blue stone, which is thought to be cursed, bringing bad fortune to all who possess it. It was first unearthed in India, where it was polished and placed in the eye of an idol in a temple on the Coleroon River in India. The legend began in the days before the French Revolution, as Marie Antoinette and Princess de Lamballe both possessed the diamond and were both executed at the guillotine. It was later purchased, in the mid-1880's, by Henry Thomas Hope, a British banker, who bequeathed it to a descendant, Lord Francis Pelham Clinton Hope, upon his death. Lord Hope later went bankrupt and lost the diamond, which later resurfaced in the court of Abdul Hamid II, the Sultan of Turkey and Caliph of Israel. He gave it to his wife Subaya, who was later executed. Mrs. Evalyn McLean bought the stone in 1911. After her death in 1949, Harry Winston bought the stone as part of the McLean collection and donated it to the United States of America.