How We Scored a Crowdless Encounter With World's Most Famous Diamond

The Hope Diamond has been seen by more than 200 million visitors during the gemstone's 60-plus years at the Smithsonian, placing it just behind Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre as the most visited museum object in the world.

This past Friday, a family member and I arrived at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, just as it was opening, and dashed two steps at a time to the second floor where we beat the crowds to the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals.

On many of our previous trips, attempts to get an unencumbered photo op with the most famous diamond in the world were thwarted by the sheer number of people in the exhibit hall, but on this day we were the first visitors to enter the Harry Winston Gallery and found ourselves in an uncommonly empty space — just us and the 45.52-carat deep-blue diamond.

The Hope Diamond is set in a Cartier-designed pendant surrounded by 16 white diamonds, both pear-shapes and cushion cuts. The complimentary necklace chain contains 45 white diamonds. The glass case is viewable from four sides and the column-shaped display on which the jewelry is affixed rotates every few seconds, one-quarter turn at a time.

The Hope Diamond was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958 by luxury jeweler Harry Winston. In yesterday’s column, we recounted how and why Winston decided to use the US Postal Service to ship the famous gem from New York to DC.

According to the Smithsonian, Winston envisioned the institution assembling a gem collection to rival the royal treasuries of Europe — “Crown Jewels” that would belong to the American public.

“Other countries have their Crown Jewels,” Winston reportedly said. “We don’t have a Queen and King, but we should have our Crown Jewels, and what better place than here in the nation’s capital at the Smithsonian Institution.”

The Hope Diamond immediately became the museum's premier attraction and has been on continuous display, except for five instances…

In 1962, it was exhibited for a month at the Louvre in Paris as part of an exhibit titled "Ten Centuries of French Jewelry."

In 1965, the Hope Diamond traveled to South Africa, where it was exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg.

In 1984, Harry Winston Inc. exhibited the stone at its New York headquarters as part of the firm's 50th anniversary celebration.

In 1996, the Hope Diamond returned to Harry Winston Inc. for a cleaning and some minor restoration work.

In March of 2020, the Smithsonian was forced to close the Hope Diamond exhibit due to COVID-19 restrictions. It was finally reopened 461 days later on June 18, 2021, to great fanfare.

Today, the Hope Diamond is estimated to be worth $325 million, making it the single most valuable item at the Smithsonian.

Researchers believe the Hope Diamond was originally mined in India in 1642. It was crudely finished and weighed 115 carats when it was purchased in 1666 by French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier, at which time it became known as the Tavernier Diamond.

French King Louis XIV bought the Tavernier Diamond in February 1669 and ordered it to be recut. The result was a 69-carat heart-shaped stone that would be known as the French Blue.

In 1792, the French Blue was stolen from the royal treasury in Paris. Its whereabouts remained unknown until a very similar large blue diamond appeared in 1839 in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, a London banker and gem collector. Gem historians believe the French Blue had been, once again, recut. The 45.52-carat gem became known as the Hope Diamond.

After going through numerous owners, it was sold in 1911 by French jeweler Pierre Cartier to Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean. In 1949, McLean’s heirs sold the stone to Winston, who exhibited it throughout the US for a number of years. In 1958, he famously gifted it to the Smithsonian.

Credits: Hope Diamond and display photos by The Jeweler Blog.