Hope Diamond

...the exact history of the Hope Diamond can be definitively fixed. This diamond was generally believed to have been cut from the French Blue, a fact which was finally verified in 2005[1]. It is often pointed out that the Hope Diamond came into recorded history almost exactly 20 years after the theft of the French Blue, just as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired...

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...In 1791, after an attempt by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to flee France, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government. During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the French Blue diamond was stolen.

In 1812 a deep blue diamond described by John Francillion as weighing 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat) was documented as being in the possession of London diamond merchant, Daniel Eliason....
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...legend is said to begin with a theft. Several centuries ago, a man named Tavernier made a trip to India. While there, he stole a large blue diamond from the forehead (or eye) of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita...
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...Cartier wanted a lot of money," says Washington Post Columnist Sarah Booth Conroy, "and Evalyn was hesitant. So Cartier added, 'Well, we've fixed it up now with a wonderful setting and you'll like it.
Why don't you keep it for a few days?' And so she put it on her dresser and she looked at it and she looked at it..." "For hours that jewel stared at me," remembers Evalyn in her autobiography, "and at some time during the night I began to really want the thing. Then I put the chain around my neck and hooked my life to its destiny for good or evil."...

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