“The fabulous Hope Diamond, a stone of beauty and ill fortune, is about to pass from a New York gem merchant to the Nation,” read the 1958 New York Times article.

For as long as it has captured the adoration of the public, the Hope Diamond has also stoked superstition. Smithsonian mineralogist Jeffrey Post, the keeper of the

Hope, dismisses the idea that the stone has any supernatural powers, but the legend persists among some that the diamond is cursed.

Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the gem trader who brought the original 115-carat blue stone from India to France in 1668 was allegedly mauled to death by dogs after desecrating a Hindu idol to obtain the rock. But this tragic tale is simply a myth. In reality, Tavernier made a tidy sum selling jewels to royalty and retired to Russia where he died a peaceful death.

What of the Hope’s subsequent owners?

Louis XIV acquired the original blue diamond from Tavernier and had it recut into the 69-carat French Blue. The stone became part of the French crown jewels, and upon his seemingly unsuspicious death, the King left the diamond to his son, Louis XV. It then passed to Louis XVI and his wife, the infamous Marie Antoinette. As you may know, tragedy soon followed. Both the new queen and king lost their heads to the guillotine and all of the crown jewels were lost to thieves during the French Revolution.

From out of the blue, what is apparently the recut French Blue emerged in the possession of Henry Philip Hope in 1839. The London gem collector and financier referenced no history of the stone. To this day, it still bears his name, but appears to have caused Hope no strife. After his death, the now aptly named Hope Diamond passed through many hands. Though history shows no real tragedy among the heirs of the time, a growing trend of bankruptcy seemed to follow the Hope until, eventually, it ended up in the possession of jeweler Pierre Cartier.

Though Cartier seemed determined to relieve himself of the Hope, he himself avoided any real curse. He redesigned the setting of the Hope Diamond and sold the stone to Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1912. It has been speculated that Cartier fabricated a more controversial past for the Hope to guarantee the sale by appealing to McLean’s superstitions.

A glamorous figure since her finishing school days in Paris, McLean, the newly married socialite, wore the lavish diamond with pride and loaned it out in hopes of establishing the gem as a good luck charm. Yet McLean’s efforts might have been in vain, for there is no doubt that she led a tragic life. Find out more about Evalyn Walsh McLean.

Harry Winston, America’s foremost jeweler, purchased the Hope from McLean’s estate in 1949 and promptly sent it on a nationwide tour. Refining the image of the priceless gem, he continued to loan out the diamond just as McLean had during her lifetime. Find out more about Harry Winston.

In November 1958, Winston sent the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution by certified mail with $1 million in insurance. With this windfall, the National Museum of Natural History established “America’s Crown Jewels” and garnered speculation from the press.
WATCH: Discover the package that delivered the Hope

A columnist at the time noted wryly, “the Hope diamond has brought nothing but grief to anyone who ever owned it. Whoever accepted it on behalf of the United States did this country a great disservice.”

Though the Smithsonian appears to have received the Hope curse-free, James G. Todd, the postman who delivered the stone, did not escape so easily. He was hit by a truck and survived, only to be widowed before his dog died and his home caught fire. Even so, Todd maintained that no real curse followed the diamond.

For the Smithsonian,however, the Hope Diamond has only been a source of good luck. It has inspired numerous gifts that have built the National Gem Collection into one of the greatest of its kind in the world.