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Famed and feared Hope Diamond goes naked
WASHINGTON (AP) - September 23, 2009 The doors were locked.
Tense looking security guards took their positions.
In rolled a cart, a white cloth covering its contents.
Smithsonian Institution officials lifted the cloth. "The Hope
Diamond naked," proclaimed Jeffrey Post, curator of the National
Gem Collection.
The world's largest blue diamond went on public display
Wednesday, for the first time without its ornate setting.
Perched atop a light gray display post, the Hope Diamond will be
on view by itself for several months while a new setting is
prepared.
Called "Embracing Hope," the new setting will surround the
star gem in a ribbon of white diamonds. It was chosen from three
proposals in an online vote, winning 45,000 out of a total 110,000
votes cast, said Cristian Samper, director of the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Natural History.
The new display is part of a celebration of the Hope Diamond's
half-century at the museum. It was donated in 1958 by jeweler Harry
Winston, whose firm is preparing the new setting.
Long rumored to carry a curse, the diamond has brought the
museum "nothing but good luck," said Post, noting that it
inspired many other gifts and forms the basis of the National Gem
Collection.
That was Winston's plan, he added, noting that the jeweler once
commented that even though the United States doesn't have a king or
queen, it should have crown jewels.
Previously the Hope Diamond has been shown in a platinum
setting, surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut
diamonds, suspended from a chain containing forty-five diamonds.
The Hope will return to this original setting in late 2010.
Formed more that a billion years ago, the diamond was mined in
India and later is believed to have been part of the French crown
jewels, having been stolen during the French Revolution. It later
came into the possession of Henry Philip Hope, whose name it
carries.
It's blue color comes from the element boron included in the
stone itself. Exposed to ultraviolet light, the Hope Diamond glows
red-orange.
