In 1830, a wealthy banker named Henry Phillip Hope had the opportunity to buy a celebrated, cut blue diamond. The 112.5-carat diamond was originally brought from India to France by a merchant named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.

Rumor had it that the diamond had been stolen from a sacred Indian idol and that it was cursed. King Louis XIV did not believe in the curse. He bought the diamond and made it a part of crown jewels. The king had it recut into the shape of a heart which reduced its weight to 67.5 carats.

The diamond was handed down to Louis XVI, who gave it to his wife, Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette lost her head, and the diamond too, in the French Revolution. The diamond was said to have appeared next in Holland. The owner gave it to a Frenchman, and shortly thereafter committed suicide. The Frenchman then brought it to London, where he soon died. Then the diamond came to Henry Hope's attention. He put no stock in the cut and bought the diamond, now cut down to 44.5 carats, for $90,000.

From then on, the gem was called the Hope Diamond. If there was a curse, it did not affect Hope. After he died peacefully, the diamond was passed to Lord Francis Hope, who went bankrupt and saw his marriage collapse. He sold it to a jewel dealer named Jacques Colot, who committed suicide after selling it to a Russian prince. The prince shot his girlfriend the first night she wore the necklace. He was later stabbed to death. The diamond then came into the posession of a Greek jeweler, Simon Manthadides, who fell off a cliff. Its next owner, Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid, was forced into exile within year.

The Hope Diamond ended up in the hands of Edward and Evalyn McClean, whose family was rocked by tragedy. Edward's father went insane, and Evalyn's father died of complications related to alcoholism. The couple's 10-year old son was killed by a car, and their daughter Emily committed suicide. Evalyn McClean kept the diamond until her death in 1947, when it was sold to diamond dealer Harry Winston. In 1958, Winston gave the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains today.