The Curse of the Hope Diamond - Guess Who's Owned it Since November 10, 1958

I can think of a few who I'd like to see own this stone.

http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/hope_nav/hnav_l...

As reported in newspapers of 1911 and/or in Maye Yohe's fanciful book, The Mystery of the Hope Diamond, published in 1929, although many (if not most) of these events are unsubstantiated:

Jean Baptiste Tavernier (diamond merchant)
stole the diamond from the eye of an Indian idol and was torn apart by wild dogs.

Louis XIV (Sun King of France)
purchased the diamond from Tavernier and died of gangrene.

Marquise de Montespan (mistress of Louis XIV)
wore the diamond and soon thereafter lost favor with the King.

Nicholas Fouquet (guardian of French Crown jewels)
wore the diamond for a festive occasion and was later disgraced, imprisoned and executed by order of the King.

Louis XVI (King of France)
inherited the diamond and lost his head during the revolution.

Marie Antoinette (Queen of France)
wore the diamond and lost her head during the revolution.

Princess de Lamballe (member of the King's court)
wore the diamond and was torn to pieces by a French mob.

Wilhelm Fals (Dutch jeweler)
recut the diamond and was robbed and murdered by his own son, Hendrik.

Hendrik Fals
committed suicide in 1830.

Francis Beaulieu (diamond merchant)
sold the diamond and died in misery.

George IV (King of England)
owned the diamond and died deep in debt.

Henry Philip Hope (wealthy London banker)
owned the diamond and suffered a long series of misfortunes, including the death of his only son.

Lord Francis Hope (grand nephew of Lord Francis)
inherited the diamond and suffered scandal, an unhappy marriage and financial ruin.

May Yohe (wife of Francis Thomas Hope)
claimed to have worn the diamond and authored many of these unsubstantiated tales of woe. Died in poverty.

Simon Frankel (New York jewelry broker)
bought the Hope in 1901 and met with severe financial difficulties during the Depression.

Jacques Colot (next owner)
went mad and committed suicide.

Prince Ivan Kanitovski (next owner)
was murdered by Russian revolutionaries.

Mlle. Lorens Ladue (of Folies Bergere)
borrowed the diamond from her lover, Ivan, and was then murdered by him.

Simon Maoncharides (Greek jewel broker)
owned the diamond and drove his car over a precipice, killing himself, his wife and child.

Habib Bey (Persian diamond merchant)
owned the diamond briefly and drowned in the sinking of a French steamer in 1909.

Abdul Hamid II (Sultan of Turkey)
paid $400,000 for the diamond and lost the Ottoman Empire in an army revolt.

Abu Sabir (servant of the Sultan)
polished the diamond for the Sultan and was imprisoned and tortured.

Zubayda (Sultan's favorite concubine)
wore the diamond and was later found stabbed to death.

Kulub Bey (guardian of the Sultan's diamond)
was hanged by Turkish mob.

Jehver Agha (an official of the Sultan's treasury)
attempted to steal the diamond and was hanged.

Evalyn Walsh McLean (owner of the diamond)
purchased the diamond from Pierre Cartier. Her mother-in-law died shortly thereafter; her first-born son died in an auto accident at the age of nine; her husband ran off with another woman, dissipated their fortune, suffered brain atrophy from alcoholism and died in a mental hospital; and her only daughter died of a drug overdose at the age of twenty-five. Evalyn was forced to sell the family newspaper, the Washington Post, and died soon after her daughter's death.

James Todd (mailman)
delivered the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian and crushed his leg in a truck accident, injured his head in an automobile accident and then lost his home in a fire.

The American People (current owners)
received the dimaond from Harry Winston as a gift to the Smithsonian Institution and suffered economic, natural and political disasters heretofor unexplained until linked to the curse of the Hope Diamond.