The Hope Diamond

It’s been exactly 50 years since Harry Winston, the famed jeweler, donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. For this historic celebration Harry Winston Inc. designed three new settings for this special gem. The public was able to vote for their favorite design and the winning design was recently revealed. The winning design consists of three-dimensional ribbons sprinkled with diamonds that embrace the Hope Diamond. The winning design was appropriately named “Embracing Hope”. The diamond will be exhibited as a stand alone gem for the first time in history before it’s placed in the new setting.

According to different legends the Hope Diamond is cursed. According to these stories the diamond was stolen from a Hindu temple. The diamond supposedly was one of the eyes of an ancient Hindu sculpture. In order to punish the thief the temple priests laid a curse on the diamond. The Washington Post and the New York Times have reported on the curse which only popularized the alleged curse.