The Hope Diamond is on public display as an unset stone for the first time ever to mark its 50th anniversary at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
The infamous 45.52-carat deep-blue diamond – blue to the naked eye with its trace amounts of metalloid element, boron – exhibits red phosphorence under UV light.
The classified IIB diamond was donated to the Washington based museum by Harry Winston Jewellers who are preparing its new setting for late 2010.
The stone was originally set in a platinum Cartier setting, surrounded by 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds, and suspended from a chain with 45 diamonds. Its new setting was decided recently by an online vote. The stone is also famous for being cursed. Allegedly its original form was stolen from a hindu temple, from its setting as one of the eyes of an idol, and the temple priests then laid a curse on whoever might possess the stone.
The Hope Diamond has been blamed for the unhappy fates of historical figures including the beheading of Marie Antoinette and forced abdication of Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid who killed members of his court because of the stone.
The Hope Diamond is the most popular stone on display at the Smithsonian Museum. In February 2005 the Smithsonian Institution announced the findings of year-long computer-aided geometry research and declared it to officially be part of the stolen French Blue crown jewel.
