This is a true story, retold as a tale. Grandma Ruth and her grandson are imagined, but the diamond, its kings and queens, its "curse" and its unusual trip through the U.S. mail are all real.
The line in front of the case moved slowly. When it was finally their turn, eleven-year-old Max pressed close to the glass, and his mouth fell open.
Inside, slowly turning on a pedestal, was a diamond the size of a walnut. It was not white like other diamonds. It was blue, a deep, steely, mysterious blue, surrounded by a necklace of white diamonds.
"That," said Grandma Ruth, "is the Hope Diamond. And people say it's cursed."
Max looked up at her. "Cursed? For real?"
"Come and sit," she said, steering him to a bench. "I'll tell you the story, and you can decide for yourself."
The Blue Stone of the King
"It begins in India, centuries ago," Grandma Ruth said. "A French traveler and gem merchant named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier bought a huge blue diamond there, and in 1668 he sold it to the most powerful king in Europe, Louis XIV of France, the Sun King.
"The king had it cut into a dazzling heart of blue and called it the French Blue. It was worn by kings of France for more than a hundred years."
"So where does the curse come in?"
"Patience. In 1792, during the French Revolution, thieves broke into the royal treasury and stole the crown jewels, and the French Blue disappeared."
The Diamond Comes Back
"Twenty years later, a big blue diamond turned up in London. It was smaller, as if someone had cut it down so nobody would recognize it. Most experts believe it was the French Blue, reshaped. A wealthy family named Hope owned it for many years, and that's how it got its name.
"And that's when the stories really started. People began to whisper that everyone who owned the blue diamond met with bad luck."
The Lady Who Wasn't Afraid
"In 1911, a famous jeweler named Pierre Cartier sold it to a rich American woman in Washington named Evalyn Walsh McLean. Some say Cartier told her the curse story on purpose, to make the diamond even more exciting. And Evalyn loved it. She wore it to parties, she let her dog wear it around its neck, she wasn't afraid of anything.
"But her life did hold great sadness," Grandma Ruth said more softly. "She lost two of her children, her marriage fell apart, and her family's newspaper fortune was lost. People said, there, you see, the curse."
Max looked back at the case. "Was it the diamond?"
"Sweetheart, sad things happen to people with diamonds and to people without them. But stories like that are hard to forget."
The Most Valuable Package Ever Mailed
"Now here's my favorite part. After Evalyn died, a New York jeweler named Harry Winston bought the diamond. And in 1958 he decided to give it to the Smithsonian, so that everyone could see it for free.
"And how did he send it? An armored truck? A guard with a gun?"
Max shook his head, guessing.
"He mailed it," said Grandma Ruth, grinning. "In a plain brown paper package, by registered mail, through the regular U.S. Post Office. A mail carrier delivered it right here to the museum, like a box of books."
Max burst out laughing. "No way!"
"Way. And the curse? It's been sitting right here, safe and sound, for more than sixty years, and millions of people have come to see it. If it ever was cursed, it seems to be quite happy now."
The Diamond's Secret
As they stood up to go, Grandma Ruth added one more thing. "Do you want to know the strangest secret of all? If you shine an ultraviolet light on the Hope Diamond, then turn the light off, it glows bright red, like a burning coal, for almost a minute."
Max stared at the blue stone, wide-eyed.
"Okay," he whispered. "Maybe it is a little bit magic."
The Legend and the Truth
The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat blue diamond, believed to have come from India. The merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier sold a large blue diamond to King Louis XIV in 1668, which was cut into the "French Blue" and stolen in 1792 during the French Revolution. A blue diamond that surfaced in London around 1812 is believed to have been recut from it, and later took its name from the Hope family. Pierre Cartier sold it to Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1911, and the legend of a curse grew around her family's tragedies.
In 1958, jeweler Harry Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution, sending it by registered mail. It is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and it does glow red after exposure to ultraviolet light.
💡 Read more legends of famous diamonds in The Legends of Diamond.
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