History has preserved many legends about precious stones, which brought numerous misfortunes and even death to their owners. One such sinister gem is the famous Hope Diamond, believed to have been sourced from a 115-carat blue diamond brought to France in 1642 by the famed gem hunter Tavernier. By the way, by some fatal accident, after the appearance of the diamond in Europe, a plague broke out that killed millions of people.
In 1668 Tavernier sold the diamond to the royal jeweler, who made several stones from it, including the Hope diamond, which until 1792 was kept in the treasury of the French kings.
During this period, Princess Lamballe became a victim of the diamond, whom the queen allowed to temporarily wear this stone: Lamballe was killed. And then, during the Great French Revolution, the queen herself was beheaded.
On September 16, 1792, the diamond was stolen, and until 1820 there is almost no information about its fate. True, it is known that the diamond was cut by the Amsterdam jeweler Wilhelm Hals. But his son Hendrik stole the stone from him in order to return the card debt to a certain Francois Beaulieu. Hulse the elder died of grief, and Hendrik committed suicide. Beaulieu also soon died of an unknown illness.
In 1901, the Hope Diamond falls into the hands of a certain Simon Frankel. But after some time, Frankel went bankrupt, the Frenchman Jacques Colot became the owner of the diamond, who soon went crazy and committed suicide. In the same year, the Russian prince Ivan Korytkovsky bought the diamond and presented it to the French dancer Ledyu. But she did not enjoy the gift for long: the next day, in a fit of jealousy, her husband shot her.
The next victim of the diamond was the Greek jeweler Simon Montradas, who a few months after acquiring the stone with his wife and child fell into the abyss in a car.
In 1911, American millionaire Edward B. McLean bought the diamond and presented it to his wife Evelyn Walsh. With the advent of Hope, the family started to get into trouble. The husband ended up in a psychiatric hospital, a nine-year-old son died under the wheels of a car, a brother suddenly died, and then a 25-year-old daughter.
In 1949, after the death of Evelyn Walsh, the stone was sold to New York jeweler Henry Winston to pay off her debts. And in 1958, Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where it is kept to this day.
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Another "bloody" diamond is Kohinoor. He, too, was found in the mines near Golconda. For several centuries it was owned by the rajas from the Malwa clan. Their subjects were convinced that if the diamond changed its owner, then slavery awaited them. And so it happened.
In 1304, Sultan Aladdin of the Khili clan tricked the diamond and took it to Delhi. And when the Malva clan was removed from power, everyone considered that the reason for this was the loss of the diamond.
For more than 300 years, the stone was kept by the Great Mughals who ruled India. They also believed that the diamond helped them hold on to power.
But in 1739 India was attacked by the Persian ruler Nadir, who took possession of the treasures of the Great Mughals, including the "Kohinoor". In general, historians claim that out of the eighteen owners of this diamond, some were treacherously killed, others died in battles, and the rest died in poverty. Because of this, the "Kohinoor" and the infamy was entrenched.
He began his biography with deaths and the Regent diamond. An Indian slave found him. But he did not give the diamond to the owners of the mine. To trick the guards, he cut open his thigh, thrust a 400-carat diamond into the wound, and bandaged it with leaves.
The Indian fled at night. At the port, he met a sailor, who promised to take him out of the country in exchange for a diamond. But the sailor deceived the Indian: he killed the slave and took possession of the stone. And upon arrival at the destination, the sailor sold the diamond to the governor of the city for 20 thousand pounds. But he soon spent this money, and then hanged himself out of grief.
The governor sold the diamond to the Duke of Orleans, who ordered it to be cut. After that, the stone turned into the "Regent" diamond.
At one time, the noble opal was also notorious: it was believed that it brings all kinds of misfortunes to its owners. This belief was especially widespread in the 19th century in Europe. Fearing trouble, the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie of France, never wore opals, although she liked them. And the English king Edward VII, also out of fear of misfortune, after the coronation ordered opals to be replaced with rubies in his crown. Princess Stephanie of Belgium, after the suicide of her husband, also got rid of all the jewelry with this stone.
Bernatsky Anatoly