Named Stones

Everything in Named Stones

• The Hope Diamond Came to the Smithsonian by Registered PostDocuments the Hope Diamond's 1958 transfer — Harry Winston's registered-mail parcel to the Smithsonian Institution's National Gem Collection — covering the stone's verified chain of ownership from Tavernier's 1666 purchase through the French Blue, the Hope family acquisition and the McLean period.
• Recut in 1852, and It Lost Forty-Two Per Cent of ItselfDocuments the Koh-i-Noor's 1851 display at the Great Exhibition — where its lacklustre appearance prompted Prince Albert to commission a recutting — and the 1852 Amsterdam recutting by Garrard under supervision, which reduced it from 186 carats to 105.6 carats (per the Tower of London record).
• Joseph Asscher Struck the Cullinan Once and the Blade BrokeDocuments the 1905 Cullinan discovery at the Premier Mine in Transvaal (3,106 carats, per the mine operator's record), the 1907 purchase by the Transvaal government and gift to Edward VII, and the January 1908 cleaving by Joseph Asscher in Amsterdam — the first blade broke on contact; the second produced nine principal stones.
• The Black Prince's Ruby Has Not Been a Ruby Since 1783Documents the spectroscopic identification of the Black Prince's Ruby as spinel by mineralogists in 1783 and its continuous display in the Imperial State Crown since 1838, covering its documented history from the 14th-century Moorish treasury forward.
• The Star of India Went Out Through an Unlocked Window in 1964Documents the October 1964 theft of the Star of India (563.35 carats, per the American Museum of Natural History) and twenty-three other gems from the J.P.
• The Logan Sapphire Is the Size of an Egg and Came from RatnapuraDocuments the Logan Sapphire — 422.99 carats, cushion-cut, Sri Lanka origin, donated to the Smithsonian by Rebecca Pollard Logan in 1960 (per Smithsonian catalogue) — covering the stone's physical dimensions, its position in the National Gem Collection and the Ratnapura deposit geology that produced it.