HopeDiamond

New Hope Diamond Setting Chosen

Filed under: Jewelry

The Hope Diamond has gone naked. The 45.5 carat blue stone has been released from its setting in order to be prepared to its temporary new outfit. Last month I mentioned that there were three potential settings being considered for the stone to mark the 50th anniversary of its donation to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History by jeweler Harry Winston. One was chosen, the Embracing Hope setting shown above. Embracing Hope received 45,000 out of a total 110,000 votes cast. The Hope will be on display by itself for the next few months while the setting is prepared by Harry Winston's team of jewelers. The legendary sparkler will then be shown in its glamorous new attire. The diamond will return to its own setting, a platinum setting surrounded by 16 pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds suspended from a diamond-set chain, in late 2010.

Tags: hope diamond, HopeDiamond, smithsonian

Vote On The New Setting For The Hope Diamond

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

The famous Hope Diamond which is in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History is getting reset to mark the 50th anniversary of its donation to the museum by jeweler Harry Winston. The 45.52 carat blue diamond will be reset by the House of Harry Winston in one of three possible modern settings. You can vote on your favorite at the Smithsonian website. The voting continues through September 7 and the diamond in its new setting will be revealed in conjunction with the world premiere of the Smithsonian Channel's documentary "Mystery of the Hope Diamond" in March 2010. The setting is only temporary. The diamond will be returned to its original setting by the end of 2010 which makes me wonder why they are doing it in the first place but I suppose that this is one piece of jewelry that need never be evaluated in terms of resale value.

[via LA Times]

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Tags: harry winston, HarryWinston, hope diamond, HopeDiamond, smithsonian

The World of Rare Stones: Painite is the World's Rarest Gem

by Tracy Coenen (RSS feed) —

The world's rarest gem is believed to be painite, a gem that most have never even heard of. Rarity does not equate to beauty in gems, however. The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s and was widely considered to be the rarest of all gems, with only two faceted crystals in existence. Within the last couple of years, however, the source of the original painite crystals was discovered, and now a few hundred faceted stones exist.

A more widely recognized (but still very rare) gem is the red diamond. There are many more red diamonds available than some other rare gems, but very large red diamonds are extremely rare. The largest cut natural red diamond may be the one owned by Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd, a 5.11 carat trillion cut.

The rare blue diamond, made famous by the Hope Diamond, gets its deep blue color from traces of boron in the stone. It is a natural blue diamond, in contrast with most of today's blue diamonds, which are turned from clear to blue with a process involving irradiation and heat.

The Hope Diamond was believed to be originally over 112 carats, but was poorly cut. It was recut in the 1600's, resulting in a stone just over 67 carats. It changed hands many times, and got its name from Henry Philip Hope, who acquired the diamond in 1839. After it changed hands a few more times, the Hope Diamond came to rest in the care of the Smithsonian, and now weighs over 45 carats.

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Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, hope diamond, HopeDiamond, painite, red diamond, RedDiamond