Do you believe in curses?

Welcome to part two — our dark and bad and all things mad Halloween post!

It is all Hallow’s Eve and what better occasion to bring out all the spooky stories and mysterious lore around gemstones! Some people believe gemstones possess certain energies and powers, ok, not everyone believes this but this concept has been around since the age of man. It can be argued through many secondary sources that people wore gemstones for protection and to increase clairvoyance amongst other magical gifts. Archeologists have found talismans and amulets made of gemstone material at ancient burial sites to support this. Our intrigue, desire and obsession with beautiful inanimate objects has not waned over the generations and people today are still fascinated by these natural twinkling little colourful candy-like gems whether for the science, sheer aesthetic or for holistic, spiritual or therapeutic reasons.

However, not all stones bring good fortune and luck. Some are believed to be rather deadly bringing great misfortune to all those who own them and, no, they aren’t opals! So what better way to celebrate Halloween than to look at the dark side of all that glitters and dive into four of the world’s most infamous cursed gems! Make yourself comfy; huddle up with a blanket, cup of tea or favourite beverage and get ready for some spooky stories! Happy reading!

The Hope Diamond

Amongst the many infamous gems of history and contrary to its name, the Hope Diamond remains one of the top favourites for cursed gems. Murder, death, suicide, bankruptcy and theft have all been associated with this beautiful blue stone. But what is the story behind this curse and is this real?

The Hope Diamond is one of the earliest mentioned blue diamonds, it is also infamous with its curious and superstitious history and omens of bringing its owners bad tidings. It certainly has outlived multiple lives. Can we say the Hope Diamond has claimed their lives? Nine victims were directly affected by the curse whilst relatives of theirs experienced misfortune, too.

It was first discovered in India with written recordings dating its presence back to 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. He allegedly stole it from the forehead of a Hindu statue of the Goddess Sita, thus starting the curse which was cast by priests on noticing it missing. It was named the Tavernier Blue after him. After cutting the stone from its original weight to 69 carats in 1673 it was renamed "the French Blue" (Le bleu de France). Tavernier then sold it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668.

Some reports say Tavernier came down with a raging fever and passed away soon after he stole the stone whilst other people claim he lived on to 84 years old. Nonetheless, after receiving the stone King Louis XIV passed away with gangrene.

After King Louis XIV’s death, Louis XVI and his spouse, Marie Antoinette inherited the blue diamond but at a time of political turmoil in France they were soon executed by guillotine. Marie-Louise, Princess de Lamballe, was a member of Marie Antoinette’s court and was her closest confidante. She liked to wear the blue diamond from time to time and she, too, died soon after Marie Antoinette.

It was stolen in 1792 during the French Revolution and re-cut. Wilhelm Fals was a Dutch jeweller who was responsible for cutting the diamond to the 45.52 carat Blue Hope Diamond we see today. After it was cut, tragedy struck when his son allegedly stole the diamond, murdered his father and then took his own life.

The diamond disappeared and no one knew its whereabouts for many years. It then reappeared in the catalogue of a gem collection owned by a London banking family with the surname Hope in 1839. This is where the diamond gets its name from. At some point a Greek merchant and gem broker named Simon Maoncharides claimed to own the diamond and he resold it in 1910 to Pierre Cartier. He then drove his car over a cliff and died.

Evalyn Walsh McLean was a rich mining heiress and socialite who bought the Hope Diamond from Pierre Cartier in 1912. Her misfortune began when her mother-in-law died, and her son died at the age of nine. Her husband left her for another woman and later died in a psychiatric hospital. Her daughter died of a drug overdose, and Evalyn eventually had to sell the newspaper she owned, The Washington Post. She died owing huge debts. Evalyn’s surviving children sold the diamond to Harry Winston in 1949 who then in 1958 donated it to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it remains on permanent exhibition today.

Whilst no harm seemed to come to the famous jeweller, the mailman who delivered the diamond to the Smithsonian, (it was mailed in a brown envelope) apparently was involved in a truck accident shortly thereafter. He also suffered a head injury in a separate accident and as things usually come in threes, the final stroke of misfortune occurred when his house burned down. But whether this is wholly true is uncertain as many stories circulated at the time and couldn’t be proven.

Could these deaths be due to the curse or were they plausible coincidences due to the era they were living in? War, riots, poor hygiene, lack of medicines, economic shifts, circumstances beyond their control all could have factored into it. What about that steely grey-blue? Is the grey colour from the dreaded curse tainting it like a dull foggy mist on a Halloween night? And is the Hope Diamond really the same diamond that Tavernier allegedly stole? How do we know? It disappeared for a while and magically resurfaced in the UK but we have 47 years unaccounted for so the plot thickens! And what happened to all the chips that were cut away when it was recut each time? From 69 carats to 45 carats—that is quite a few missing diamonds. Are those chips now in jewellery and are they also cursed? Will we ever find the answers? The mystery continues!

The Black Orlov Diamond

Contrary to its name, the Black Orlov Diamond is not black but more of a dark murky gun metal colour. A rather sinister hue for a stone possessed with a dark past involving no less than three mysterious suicides.

According to legend the stone used to be part of a Hindu statue of the god Brahma (The Creator) in Pondicherry, India, and featured as one of the eyes. Like the Hope Diamond, it was stolen but by a monk, and thus began the curse most likely cast by the priests on discovering it missing.

How the Black Orlov Diamond received its name is still unclear and shrouded in mystery. It is said that the diamond was owned by Princess Nadia Vygin-Orlov but the stone was first discovered in the 1800s. Nadia fled to Rome during the 1917 Russian Revolution. She had been in possession of the Black Orlov diamond at some point in time but it is unclear how she came to losing it. Did she give it away? Was it stolen? It is thought that the diamond is named after her or her family.

In 1932 it was allegedly reported that the diamond dealer J. W. Paris secured possession of the Black Orlov and intended to find a buyer. He sold the stone within a week of arriving in New York but then committed suicide by jumping from a skyscraper. Not much is known about him nor his steps between selling the diamond and taking his life. A decade later after his suicide Princess Nadia is supposed to have jumped to her death from a building in central Rome. Within the 1940s another alleged owner of the Black Orlov Diamond, Leonila Galitsine-Bariatinsky, also committed suicide by leaping to her death although exact details and information on these princesses’ deaths is scarce and the chronological timeline of provenance is also missing.

The diamond dealer Charles F. Winston bought the diamond and as an attempt to break the curse he had the stone cut into three with the most famous piece; the 67.5 ct stone known today as the Black Orlov, set into a 108-diamond brooch suspended from a 124-diamond necklace. All three parts are currently privately owned although have been displayed at times in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the Natural History Museum in London. The stone has had multiple owners but little information is available on the owners or whether they have also experienced misfortune. The diamond dealer Dennis Petimezas was quoted in 2004 saying he was “pretty confident that the curse is broken.”

Interestingly though, the more details you try to find about this stone and its history the more blurred the story becomes. There is no documentation of Russia having had a princess by the Orlov name. All Orlov Princes descend from the brothers of Catherine the Great's lover, Count Grigori Grigorievitch Orlov so were they the original owners? There are also no historical sources of India having produced any black diamonds. Some people have suggested that a black diamond would never have been used in a Hindu idol as black is considered bad luck. However, the two regular eyes on Hindu idols (there are normally three eyes) represent the sun and the moon – light and dark respectively – so is it plausible that a black diamond could have been used for the “moon” eye? Was this story just Chinese Whispers? Is any part of it true? Did any of these people really own the diamond and did it really cause all these deaths? Circumstantial or plausible? Was it just fiction to prevent people from stealing it or create a market for people to want to buy it to see if they could break the curse? Years ago black diamonds were not considered valuable nor did people want them so making up a story would give it an edge, arouse interest and thus increase its worth. What do you think?

The Black Prince’s Ruby

Blood-Red, irregular cabochon spinel, 170 carats pierced and partly filled with a small ruby. This particular balas cabochon was probably drilled at some point so that it could be worn as a pendant. The hole was later plugged with a smaller cabochon ruby edged in gold.

Not many people know that some of the gems in the crown jewels have been given names. If you have visited the Tower of London and seen the Imperial State Crown, you may know this stone. It is currently set in the cross pattée above the Cullinan II diamond at the front of the Imperial State Crown.

The stone is believed to have originated from the Badakhshan mines in present day Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the principal source of large spinel gems in the Middle Ages.

Yes. You read that correctly; spinel.

The word ruby or "balas ruby" was once used to refer to all red gemstones. It was not until 1783 that spinels were chemically differentiated from rubies. Weighing 170 carats and measuring about 2 inches long, the Black Prince’s Ruby was long thought to be one of the largest rubies in the world. However, a ruby gemstone of this size would prove too good to be true. While the Black Prince’s Ruby is an impressive specimen in its own right, it is not a ruby. In the 16th century, jewelers found the Black Prince’s Ruby to be a spinel, a mineral that is well known today as “the great imposter” for its deceitful likeness to a ruby.

And here the keyword is deceit because the story of the stone centres around the themes of deceit and death through awful slow diseases. The first references to the stone in literature appear in the conflict between Sultan Muhammad VI (also known as Sultan Abu Said) of Granada and King Pedro I of Castile (King Pedro the Cruel) but the stone itself was probably first traded along the Silk Trade Route and there is no mention of how it came to be owned by the Sultan.

The stone is said to be cursed bringing fatal illnesses and seems to affect only men. It started when King Pedro the Cruel deceitfully tricked Sultan Abu. Granada was losing territory to King Pedro so the Sultan agreed to a settlement for peace but King Pedro lied and then killed the Sultan and all his servants. He then confiscated the ‘ruby’ from the Sultan’s body and took over the Castilian lands thus starting ‘The Sultan’s Curse’ through an act of deceit.

King Pedro found himself at war soon after with his own half-brother; Enrique for the throne of Castile. In need of help he gained the support of Edward the Black Prince of England (or Edward of Woodstock). Together they managed to hold onto the lands and stop King Pedro’s brother and as a reward Edward was gifted the ruby on the victory of Nájera in 1367. Enrique did manage to kill his half-brother two years later and Edward fled back to England with the ruby.

Edward died in his mid-forties after battling chronic illness after illness but the recorded cause of death was obscured. Some think he might have died from dysentery or perhaps malaria or inflammatory bowel disease. Nevertheless, he passed away before he could inherit the English throne. The ruby was then left to his son Richard II. Richard later became king but was imprisoned by Henry IV and died of starvation when he was 33. Like his predecessor Edward, Henry IV also died in his mid-forties. He had a severe skin condition that might have been leprosy or syphilis. He also suffered attacks of some other illness that might have been epilepsy or a heart condition and endured ill health for many years. His son Henry V inherited the throne and the Black Prince’s Ruby and he, too died of dysentery at age of 35 on a French battlefield. This pattern of inheriting the stone and then dying slowly of awful illnesses continued through many lineages until the ruby eventually entered the Tudor line.

During the 16th Century of the Tudor reign the stone had a fairly calm period and nothing seemed to be awry whilst under female rule. Queen Elizabeth I gifted the ruby to Queen Mary of Scots who would pass it down to King James I when the Stuarts took the English throne in 1603. However, misfortune was not far away and the curse seemed to be reignited as King James’s son, Charles I, was executed at age 48 during the Civil War and the Crown Jewels were subsequently sold off.

When the monarchy was restored by Charles II in 1660, the jewel was returned to the Royal Treasury. The throne was then inherited by Charles’s brother, James II, who was exiled just 3 years after his coronation. Queen Victoria had the large, irregularly-shaped cabochon set in the front of her new Imperial State Crown in 1838 and even though the crown has been refashioned numerous times the Black Prince’s Ruby has continued to take centre stage at the front of the crown to the present day.

Is this merely coincidence that royal male heirs were plagued with illness and misfortune or is this perhaps logical seeing as women were legally not allowed to be ruling monarchs until the 1500’s? Were the diseases just a normal part of those eras or was the stone really cursed? Queen Elisabeth’s father passed away at a young age but our past Queens have lived well into, or past, their eighties and had a long stand of ruling without suffering from terrible diseases. Now we have a future of kings again will ‘The Sultan’s Curse’ be reactivated? I guess time will tell …

The Delhi Purple Sapphire

The Delhi Purple Sapphire is a gemstone that has a reputation for being cursed, but also for being misunderstood. Like the Black Prince’s Ruby, it is not what it seems. It is not a sapphire, but actually an amethyst. It is also not from Delhi, but from Cawnpore (Kanpur). It is not a beautiful or valuable stone, but a plain and ordinary one. It is not a source of evil but a stone of haunted misfortune and sorrow. So how did all this information get distorted? And what is the true story behind the stone? Like many of the cursed gems the stories and lore surrounding them are more exciting and intriguing than what they probably are. As humans we tend to attribute meaning and symbolism to objects to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. We want to be entertained and it is our human nature to be storytellers and pass down tales through generations. What is the reality? Will we ever know the truth behind the myths? Who knows but there is something fascinating about pondering the what if, who, why, when and how.

Just as the other curses have begun, this one also starts with the belief that the stone was stolen, on this occasion, by a British soldier possibly Colonal W. Ferris. He stole the stone from the Temple of Indra (the Hindu god of war and weather) in Kanpur, India during 1857.

As soon as he returned to England, Ferris began to suffer a series of financial misfortunes which brought the family to bankruptcy. At first Ferris thought it was due to poor judgement in investments but soon after every member of his family suffered illnesses and further bad luck. He suspected it might be a kind of karma for stealing the gemstone and his suspicions were proven correct when he lent the stone to a family friend who then for no apparent reason committed suicide.

The stone was later given to Edward Heron-Allen, a scientist and writer, in 1890. Soon after taking possession of the gem, this rational scientist abandoned all reason and began to experience many misgivings which he attributed to the stone. In 1902 Heron-Allen reluctantly agreed to lend the Delhi Sapphire to a friend. The friend was immediately plagued by a series of unlucky events. The misfortunes of Heron-Allen ceased all the while he did not possess the stone but when his friend returned the gem to him the bad luck started again.

In frustration he cast the stone, which had been set into a ring, into Regent’s Canal thinking he would be finally free. Unfortunately, like Jumanji; the game always resurfaces and finds you again, the stone was dredged from the canal several months later and taken to a local jeweler. The jeweler immediately recognized the stone as the one he had mounted on a ring for Heron-Allen. Believing that he was carrying out a good deed, he returned the ring. It isn’t mentioned how much time passed but after a long time a friend asked to borrow the jewel for an event so Heron-Allen again lent it out. This time the unfortunate recipient was a professional singer who never sang again after wearing the cursed gem. In a desperate attempt to rid the curse and hide the stone Heron-Allen packed the Delhi Sapphire into seven boxes filled with charms. He then deposited it in the safe of his bank with instructions for it not to be opened until after his death.

Heron-Allen warned that the Delhi Purple sapphire is "accursed and is stained with the blood, and the dishonor of everyone who has ever owned it." In 1944, Heron-Allen died. Despite insisting that the box containing the Delhi Sapphire should not be opened for 33 years after his death, Heron- Allen’s daughter wisely disposed of it as quickly as she could and sent it to the Natural History Museum. There it stayed until 1972, sitting in a drawer until curator Peter Tandy uncovered the purple stone and the strange letter enclosed detailing the particular tales of woe. The letter finished with “whoever opens this box, do whatever you want with it. My advice however, is to throw it into the sea.”

The mysterious Delhi Purple sapphire has since then been permanently on display in the Natural History Museum in London within the Vault Collection.

Little is known about whether the Delhi Sapphire targeted men or women and what other misfortunes other than poverty and sickness it might have caused. Some scholars have suggested the stories may actually be based on the novel ‘The Moonstone’ by Wilkie Collins which features similar themes. Do you think the stone is cursed or was it just coincidence and a scapegoat for the bad decisions and subsequent consequences of its owners?

Summary:

So there we have four cursed and infamous gems. There are many more out there but these are the most notorious ones. There are many versions of these tales and it is difficult to filter out what might be true and what could be false. These stories have been retold and refashioned, details, dates, names and places have been changed across different sources depending where you search. If anything, there is a lesson within each story with a warning not to steal things, especially with religious significance, and to be honest and humble. In all the tales there are numerous examples of bad behaviour and skewed moral compasses. Nearly all the gems originated from the far East, do you think the landsmen there wanted to try to keep their jewels and started these stories to prevent people from stealing more of their gems? Do you think there is bad energy trapped inside the stones? Would you touch one? If someone gifted you one of these four would you keep it? What would you do?

We hope you enjoyed visiting the dark side of all that glitters and wish you all a fantastic spooky Halloween night! Stay safe and watch out for cursed gems that might be lurking in our midst!