Viewing page 3 of 48

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

^[[Geol]]

3

Accessions

Numerous fine specimens were added to the collections, especially in the Division of Mineralogy and Petrology.

The Hope Diamond.-  This legendary diamond, largest and most notable of all blue diamonds in the world, was presented to the Smithsonian Institution on November 10, 1958, by Mr. Harry Winston, world-famous gem merchant connoisseur of New York City.

The Hope ranks in importance with other famous diamonds, such as the Kohinoor, Cullinan, and Regent, found only in the Crown Jewels of Europe.  In fact, because of its long and dramatic history, the legends built around it, and its rare, deep blue color, the Hope is possibly the best known diamond in the world.

Though its early history is not known with certainty, the legends attached to the Hope date back many hundreds of years.  Speculation ties the Hope to the famous "French Blue," once the eye of an idol in India, later part of the Royal Jewels of Louis XIV of France.  Mr. Winston acquired the Hope from the estate of the late Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean of Washington, D. C., in 1949.  It was presented to Mrs. McLean by her husband, Edward B. McLean, in 1911.  Its known history, prior to the McLean purchase, dates from 1830 when David Eliason, a noted gem dealer, sold the stone to Henry Thomas Hope, an Irish squire and banker.  The stone was shown at the London Exposition in 1851.  In 1867 it was sold at Christie's in London.  It was acquired in 1908 by the Sultan Habib Bey, but after the Young Turks Revolt it was again placed on the market, and purchased by McLean in 1911.