Did you know that the Hope Diamond, for the first time since it joined the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 1958, is displayed unset? That’s right, the world-famous gigantic, 46 carat deep-blue grey diamond, is finally on display in its natural beauty. Sitting on a rotating pedestal inside a cylinder of 3-inch bulletproof glass, you can find it next to the main exhibit in the National Gem Collection.

Close up of the Hope Diamond

The rotating pedestal

Another angle of the gem, different facets

From the other side, again!

The platinum setting, composed of 16 white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds, and a chain of forty-five diamonds. The Hope will return to its traditional setting in late 2010.

For more information about the long history of the Hope Diamond, check out the wikipedia article. Its origins, shrouded in theft and mystery, are a fascinating read! If you liked this post, leave a comment, and perhaps I’ll post photos of the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond, also on display in the Smithsonian.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 4:37 pm and is tagged with national gem collection, smithsonian museum of natural history, history of the hope diamond, cushion cut diamonds, deep blue grey, graff diamond, museum of natural history, bulletproof glass, wittelsbach, wikipedia, unset, pedestal, carat, natural beauty, facets, pear, origins, platinum, mystery, photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.