Diamonds are famous for their beauty and value, but a few have earned a rather darker reputation. Wrapped in tales of bad luck, tragedy, and mystery, these so-called cursed gems have fascinated people for centuries. Whether the stories are true or not, they certainly make these diamonds harder to forget. So polish your magnifying glass and proceed with caution, these sparkling stones may be more than just pretty rocks.
Hope Diamond curse
The Hope Diamond is a large blue diamond purchased in 1668 by King Louis XIV which was sold to him by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier on his last journey to India form 1664-1668. The king ordered the diamond to be cut from its original form, around 115 modern carats, to a 69-carat heart-shaped diamond, which was rereferred to as “the great violet diamond of His Majesty”, as well as “Le Bijou du Roi (the Kings jewel). This curse of this jewel is its tie to unfortunate events, it’s associated with the deaths of many of its owners. Louis XIV had gangrene and passed away, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed during the French revolution. Soon afterwards Marie-Louise, a member of Marie Antoinette’s court briefly wore the diamond and died swiftly.
The diamond was stolen by Wilhelm Fals, a Dutch jeweller who cut the diamond down to 45-carats, but was incredibly murdered by his son who stole the diamond. It reappeared in 1839 and was then sold again in 1910 by Simon Montharides, who then drove off a cliff. It was bought from Pierre Cartier of Cartier in 1912 by a rich heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean who faced many unfortunate events, including the death of her mother-in-law, her 9-year-old son, her daughter and later her husband after he left her for another woman. She died in huge debt, and the diamond was sold in 1949, which was then again donated in 1958 to the Smithsonian Institution and sent in the post. The postman who delivered the diamond died in an accident not long later, as well as his house burning down.
Currently, the diamond which is set in a pendant resides at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. These tragic stories could of course be pure coincidence or a form of strategic storytelling, or the diamond brings misfortune for being stolen from a Hindu idol in India, to not only its owners, but whoever touches the jewel.
Cullinan Diamond curse
Unlike the Hope Diamond, the Cullinan Diamond curse is not a tale of ancient and tragic deaths, but instead the legend stems from colonial exploitation and a harrowing cutting incident when the 3,106-carat rough stone was first being processed. The gem was first discovered in 1905 in a Premier Mine near Pretoria, South Africa when the mine’s Superintendent Frederick Wells discovered the incomparable jewel.
Master diamond cutter Joseph Asscher began cleaving the massive stone in Amsterdam, his specialised steel blade broke on the first strike without splitting the diamond. The second attempt was successful, but the stress caused a smaller piece to fly across the room, and to diamond cutters, this near loss of a priceless gem is the root of the stone’s lore of “misfortune”.
It is divided into several polished gems, the two largest and most notable being Cullinan I (The Great Star of Africa) which weighs 530.2 carats and is part of the British Crown Jewels, and the Cullinan II (The Second Star of Africa) weighing 317.4 carats and is set in the Imperial State Crown. Some believe that the diamond brings misfortune, however most people claim this to be just superstition as there is no specific event tied to the brilliant gemstone despite its mystique.
Regent Diamond curse
The Regent Diamond is a flawless 140.64-carat cushion-cut diamond famed for its near-perfect clarity and faint blue tint. It is of course tied to a dark legend, a legendary tale of greed, betrayal and tragedy. It originated in the Golconda mines of India and was found by an enslaved miner in 1701 who smuggled the diamond to the coast in a wound in his own leg. An English ship captain promised to assist him in escaping for part of the profit but instead killed him and sold the stone to an English merchant, Thomas Pitt. He sent the stone to London where it was then cut over the course of 2 years.
It was then purchased for the French Crown by Phillipe II, Duke of Orleans in 1717 and was set into Louis XV’s crown for his coronation in 1722, and later into a crown for Louis XVI in 1775. Marie Antoinette was also a wearer of the diamond, as it was used to adorn a hat of hers, who both suffered unfortunate deaths. In 1801 it was recovered by Napoleon Bonaparte who used it for the guard of his sword, and following his defeat at Waterloo, he lost his empire, was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena and died in isolation. Today, the gemstone remains on display in the Louvre in Paris, where the myth of the curse continues, as during the jewel heist at the museum last October where eight priceless pieces of the French Crown Jewels were taken, the diamond was left strangely untouched.
Koh-I-Noor Diamond curse
The Koh-I-Noor is a 105.6-carat diamond, its name translating to “Mountain of Light” in Persian, it’s one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. Originating from the Kollur mines in India, the diamond bears a famous, centuries-old Hindu warning, “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God or woman can wear it with impunity”.
Through hundreds of years, the gem changed hands through bitter coups, treachery, and gruesome violence and many of the empires and kings that possessed the Koh-i-Noor suffered dramatic falls. The Khalji empire dynasty ended in bloodshed shortly after acquiring the diamond, the Nader Shah of Persia descended into madness after looting the stone from Delhi in 1739, blinding his own son and later being assassinated by his own soldiers, and the Sikh empire collapsed while in possession of the gem, resulting in the British annexation of the Punjab.
In 1849, the British East India Company seized the diamond, forcing the 11-year-old Sikh Maharaja, Duleep Singh to sign the annexation of Lahore, officially surrendering the gem to Queen Victoria. Believers of the curse reference the Revolt of 1857, which erupted not long after the gem’s arrival and almost destroyed the East India Company. Fully aware of the diamond’s dark, bloody history, the British royal family heeded the legend. From the reign of Queen Victoria onward, the Koh-i-Noor has remained part of the British Crown Jewels been passed exclusively to the Queen’s, from Queen Victoria to Queen Alexandra, to Queen Mary (it’s set in the Queen Mary Crown) and then to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother who wore the diamond in her 1937 coronation crown and now to Queen Camilla, although famously she decided not to wear it.
Black Orlov Diamond curse
The Black Orlov is a 67.5-carat gun-metal black diamond that is completely shrouded in myth, claiming its past owners were doomed to mysterious suicides. It is believed to have been stolen by a Hindu monk from a statue of the Hindu god Brahma, God of creation, which sparked a curse that led three of its owners to leap to their deaths.
The first was J.W. Paris, a European diamond dealer who brought the gemstone to the US in 1932. Not long after selling the diamond, he supposedly jumped from a Manhattan skyscraper. Later in the 20th century, it came into the possession of two Russian princesses, Princess Leonila Viktorovna-Bariatinsky and Princess Nadia Vyegin Orlov (hence the name), who both leaped to their deaths about a month apart. However, historians note that much of this lore is unverified, or example that Princess Nadia never actually existed.
To break this alleged curse, the new owner, New York City diamond dealer Charles F. Winston had the large rough diamond recut over two years. It was reset into a brooch-style pendant surrounded by 108 white diamonds and suspended from a 124-diamond necklace. It’s been displayed in museums around the world but now resides with a private owner.
The Hope Diamond. The blue stone now in the Smithsonian carries the longest and most lurid chain of misfortune, from Louis XIV to heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean, who died in debt having lost her son, daughter and husband. Whether curse or salesmanship, no diamond has shed its reputation less successfully.
There is no evidence of a curse. The tragedies attached to its owners are a mix of coincidence and storytelling, much of it amplified by Pierre Cartier to help sell the stone to Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1912. The legend has outlived everyone who profited from it.
At the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., where it has been since it was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958. It remains set in a pendant surrounded by white diamonds.
She chose not to. For the 2023 coronation the stone was left out of her crown to avoid reopening the dispute over its ownership with India, where its surrender to Queen Victoria in 1849 is still regarded as colonial theft.
No. Every famous curse traces back to coincidence, unverified legend or deliberate marketing. The more valuable the stone, the better the story, and a good curse has always been worth carats.
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