US has Sun King's stolen gem, say French experts [ Hope Diamond ]

Yahoo/AFP ^ | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 | Richard Ingham and Marie-Pierre Ferey

[SunkenCiv]

New evidence unearthed in France's National Museum of Natural History shows beyond reasonable doubt that the Hope Diamond is the same steely-blue stone once sported by the Sun King, they said. Mineralogist Francois Farges, heading an investigation published in a peer-reviewed French journal, told AFP he was now "99 percent sure" that the Hope and the mythical Blue Diamond of the Crown were one and the same. "The evidence corroborates a scenario under which the diamond, after being stolen in Paris in 1792, was swiftly smuggled to London, where it was recut," he said. The Blue Diamond came from a massive, 115.6-carat blue-tinged stone mined in the kingdom of Golconda, in India's Hyderabad state. In the mid-17th century, a French adventurer by the name of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased the stone from Golconda's ruler and then sold it on to Louis XIV... Asked whether France would now ask for the diamond's return, Farges said this was unlikely... "if someone were to ask me if I were 100-percent sure that this was the same diamond, I would be unable to say so, because the nature and chemical composition of the original blue diamond were never recorded."

[Yo-Yo]

Gee, I recall a program on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, or TLC (I can’t remember which) that showed how little stone had to be recut to make the Hope Diamond from the Great Blue.

[Grimmy]

If we got the stone, where’s my cut?

[Centurion2000]

However, since the diamond was put in the care of the Smithsonian Institute, there have been no unusual incidents related to it.

Maybe the curse just takes longer to kill an entire nation. 1958 - 2008 ... 50 years in our nation's possession.

[SunkenCiv]

I find this topic facetnating.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

We must give it back to the French. It has a curse on it you know. Our nation hasn’t been worth a hoot since we got that rock. Let the French Have it or better yet—give it back to India where it once adorned a heathen Idol.