The Curse of the Hope Diamond

Good story, right? Evalyn and Ned McLean, the wealthy American couple who bought the diamond in 1911, thought so. They heard the tale from Pierre Cartier, the French jeweler who sold them the Hope Diamond, as it had come to be known, for $180,000. That’s more than $5.7 million in today’s dollars.

There was just one problem with the story: Cartier had made the whole thing up!

Nevertheless, The New York Times reported that the McLeans had purchased a diamond said to bring “ill-luck to its possessors.” Soon other newspapers repeated the story, with many writers adding new and more fantastical details. Before long, it was common knowledge that the Hope Diamond was cursed.

In fact, the idea of the curse was not entirely Cartier’s. Stories about cursed diamonds were popular at the time. From 1908 to 1910, several articles linked the Hope Diamond in particular to all sorts of tragedies, from murder to financial ruin. These articles, though entertaining, were riddled with errors and flat-out fabrications.

So is there any truth to the legend of the Hope Diamond? Tavernier did get it in India. But he didn’t steal it; he bought it. And though the cause of his death—more than four decades later, at the age of 84—is unknown, there is no evidence that wild dogs were involved. 

To be sure, bad things did befall some of the diamond’s owners. King Louis XVI of France and his wife, Marie Antoinette, who possessed the jewel during the French Revolution (1789-1799), were beheaded. English noble Lord Francis Hope, who owned the diamond during the late 1800s and for whose family the diamond is named, lost his fortune. 

Yet given how many people have owned the stunning jewel over the years, it’s only logical that some would experience tragedy. The McLeans certainly had their share. Their son died in a car accident. Then they ran out of money, and their marriage fell apart. Many blamed these events on the Hope Diamond—but Evalyn McLean was not among them. She always took the story of the curse as just that: a story.

Today the Hope Diamond is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. When the museum acquired the infamous diamond in 1958, it received many letters of protest. One group of concerned citizens told the museum it was tempting fate to have anything to do with the “ghastly gem.”

“If the Smithsonian accepts the Hope Diamond,” one person warned, “the whole country will suffer.”

“You know how disastrous the stone has been for its owners!” wrote another.

Those who believed in the curse probably weren’t surprised to learn that a series of unfortunate events befell postal carrier James Todd after he delivered the diamond to the museum. His leg was crushed by a truck, his wife died of a heart attack, his dog passed away, and his house burned down.

Yet today the walnut-sized gemstone remains one of the Smithsonian’s star attractions. It inspires wonder and awe in the millions of tourists who view it each year—and there’s no evidence that these visitors have worse luck than anyone else!