I hope that the next owner of diamonds will be businessman Habibie. Shortly after he sold it to a man named Simon, he and his family drowned in the sea near Gibraltar. After Simon sold diamonds to Sultan Abdul II of Turkey, all three of them fell off a cliff and died in a car accident. Sultan Abdul was deposed by the Turkish Youth Party in 1909 after acquiring this priceless treasure.
Later, the "Hope" diamond reappeared in Paris and was sold by jeweler Pierre Cartier to Evelyn Voss McLean in Washington, USA for $65.438+0.54 million. McLean and her husband are publishers of Washington post and The Cincinnati Inquirer. The couple have also experienced many misfortunes since they bought this diamond. 19 18 when they went to Marseille, Kentucky to watch the game, their 8-year-old son in Washington escaped the bodyguard and ran into the street, and was run over by a car. Shortly thereafter, Ned began to drink heavily, and finally lost his sound mind and his newspaper industry. One of their daughters died of an overdose of sleeping pills. 1967 12 Their 25-year-old granddaughter died of alcoholism at her home in Texas.
1947 After Mrs. McLean died, jeweler Harry Winston bought her blue diamond "Hope" for 165438+ ten thousand dollars. In the following 10 years, Winston took this diamond and other precious stones and traveled 640,000 kilometers around the world to raise money for charity. * * * 500 people visited this diamond successively, and * * * raised more than 1 ten thousand dollars.
During the period of 1957, Winston and Smith Institute negotiated to send the "Hope" diamond to the Institute as the center of a series of precious stones, and compared it with the diamond used in the coronation of the Tower of London in England. Smith College agreed to accept it. 1958165438+1October 8th, this blue diamond was put in a goatskin box, wrapped in kraft paper and sent to the general post office in new york. Gem dealers have always believed that this is the most reliable way to transport gems. Soon, under the supervision of armed personnel, it was sent to the Smith Institute in Washington, with insurance of $6,543,800+0,000. Winston spent $65,438+45,290. He is the last owner of Hope Diamond and the luckiest owner in 300 years.
In the meantime, an interesting thing happened to Winston. Once, Winston and his wife went to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. When he returned to new york, his wife left by plane the day before, and Winston himself flew back to new york the next day. Mrs. Winston's plane flew as scheduled and landed at Maria airport in Azores to refuel. It was delayed for about three hours because of a minor engine failure. While waiting for repairs, a male passenger suddenly refused to take the plane again and insisted on taking the next day's plane instead, so he got off the plane and left. Winston doesn't know about it. On the way to Lisbon airport the next day, he received a telegram from his wife saying that she had arrived in new york safely. Winston put the telegram in his pocket and boarded the flight to new york. When the plane took off, he found that the seat next to him was empty. He is very happy because he can have a good sleep. When he woke up, the plane had arrived at Maria airport in Azores. When the plane refueled, he got off the plane and went for a walk.
When he returned to the plane, he found a guest beside him, who was telling an adventure story to the passengers on the plane. He said that he actually took a plane with the wife of the owner of the unlucky diamond yesterday. Sure enough, the plane broke down at this Mary airport, so he quickly got off the plane and asked to take today's plane instead, and so on. The passenger continued, "I'm not superstitious, but why should I risk flying with the wife of the owner of that unlucky diamond?" I insist on taking another plane. You see, I'm safe and can talk here. "Winston listened, really in distress situation, thinking, if this guy knew that I was the owner of the blue diamond" Hope ",what would he look like now? Just then, the guest next door suddenly raised his voice and said, "It would be strange if that plane could arrive safely yesterday." "Mr. Winston, who has a good self-restraint, probably can't help it. He took out his wife's telegram from his pocket and handed it to the excited passengers next door. Suddenly, he was as quiet as a deflated ball until he reached his destination, new york. The passengers never spoke again.
Up to now, there has been an endless stream of people visiting the Smith Institute. While admiring the vicissitudes of this rare treasure, people seem to feel that the shining blue light is silently telling people its mysterious and ominous history.