1 00:00:03,538 --> 00:00:06,307 It's night at the museum. 2 00:00:06,407 --> 00:00:09,911 Inside the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, 3 00:00:09,944 --> 00:00:12,947 the last visitor has left. 4 00:00:12,980 --> 00:00:15,316 The dinosaurs are alone. 5 00:00:15,483 --> 00:00:21,122 The north Atlantic right whale has only guards for company. 6 00:00:21,155 --> 00:00:25,793 But on this night, something strange is happening. 7 00:00:25,827 --> 00:00:29,331 The most famous and mysterious diamond in the world 8 00:00:29,363 --> 00:00:33,200 is being taken from its bomb-proof cabinet. 9 00:00:33,234 --> 00:00:37,171 The Hope diamond, at 45.5 carats, 10 00:00:37,205 --> 00:00:40,608 the biggest deep blue diamond ever discovered, 11 00:00:40,641 --> 00:00:46,113 is about to go under the drill to reveal its inner secrets. 12 00:00:46,147 --> 00:00:49,784 Hundreds of millions of atoms will be blasted out of it 13 00:00:49,817 --> 00:00:51,218 and open up a window 14 00:00:51,252 --> 00:00:56,824 into a world over a billion years old. 15 00:00:56,858 --> 00:00:58,059 The Hope diamond 16 00:00:58,159 --> 00:01:01,129 is one of the world's most unique creations. 17 00:01:01,162 --> 00:01:02,630 It's a little bit like a meteorite 18 00:01:02,663 --> 00:01:04,665 that's fallen to the earth from outer space. 19 00:01:04,699 --> 00:01:06,701 The Hope diamond does not just contain 20 00:01:06,734 --> 00:01:08,269 a scientific mystery. 21 00:01:08,302 --> 00:01:11,739 It has also spawned a legendary curse. 22 00:01:11,772 --> 00:01:13,407 It's got this fabulously complicated 23 00:01:13,441 --> 00:01:14,976 and dramatic history. 24 00:01:15,009 --> 00:01:17,512 There are so many twists and turns and dramatic events 25 00:01:17,678 --> 00:01:19,813 and horrible deaths along the way. 26 00:01:19,947 --> 00:01:21,749 Behind the Hope diamond 27 00:01:21,782 --> 00:01:25,252 lies the greatest jewel robbery in history, 28 00:01:25,386 --> 00:01:29,757 a glittering American heiress struck by tragedy 29 00:01:29,957 --> 00:01:33,093 and an executed king and queen. 30 00:01:33,127 --> 00:01:36,797 The idea that here's this diamond 31 00:01:36,831 --> 00:01:40,401 that has touched the neck of Marie Antoinette, 32 00:01:40,434 --> 00:01:43,337 that was stolen from an idol in India 33 00:01:43,404 --> 00:01:46,540 and has this magical power. 34 00:01:46,574 --> 00:01:47,875 For half a century 35 00:01:47,909 --> 00:01:51,146 the Hope diamond has been America's crown jewel. 36 00:01:51,178 --> 00:01:53,313 Now, to mark the anniversary, 37 00:01:53,414 --> 00:01:55,549 master craftsmen at Harry Winston 38 00:01:55,650 --> 00:02:00,588 are creating a new setting selected by the American people. 39 00:02:03,658 --> 00:02:05,827 When you look at the Hope, you are not the same. 40 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:09,263 This transforms your vision into the world of gems. 41 00:02:09,297 --> 00:02:11,599 This is the astonishing story 42 00:02:11,632 --> 00:02:13,801 of the Hope diamond. 43 00:02:25,413 --> 00:02:27,282 The National Museum of Natural History 44 00:02:27,381 --> 00:02:30,784 in Washington, D.C. 45 00:02:30,818 --> 00:02:35,156 Here, protected by a thick layer of bullet and bomb-proof glass, 46 00:02:35,189 --> 00:02:38,125 lies the most visited exhibit on the planet. 47 00:02:38,292 --> 00:02:42,296 It attracts about as many visitors as the Mona Lisa. 48 00:02:42,430 --> 00:02:45,900 What makes the Hope diamond so special and alluring 49 00:02:45,933 --> 00:02:47,368 is its unique combination 50 00:02:47,401 --> 00:02:52,606 of size, near perfect clarity and deep blue color. 51 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:54,842 It towers over the single carat diamond 52 00:02:54,875 --> 00:02:57,644 typical of an engagement ring, 53 00:02:57,678 --> 00:03:00,848 but the Hope also contains one mysterious property 54 00:03:00,881 --> 00:03:02,182 that is the subject 55 00:03:02,216 --> 00:03:05,386 of a long running scientific puzzle. 56 00:03:08,789 --> 00:03:11,558 One night in the late 1960s, 57 00:03:11,592 --> 00:03:13,194 scientists in South Africa 58 00:03:13,227 --> 00:03:16,797 placed the Hope diamond under ultraviolet light. 59 00:03:16,831 --> 00:03:19,033 Nothing happened... 60 00:03:19,066 --> 00:03:21,502 Until the light was switched off. 61 00:03:21,635 --> 00:03:26,273 Incredibly, the diamond emitted an almost supernatural red glow. 62 00:03:26,307 --> 00:03:28,676 It continued to glow for up to a minute, 63 00:03:28,709 --> 00:03:31,779 an effect never seen before. 64 00:03:31,812 --> 00:03:35,849 Dr. Jeffrey Post, curator of the national gem collection, 65 00:03:36,017 --> 00:03:39,387 has studied the Hope for two decades. 66 00:03:39,420 --> 00:03:43,291 This glow was something that clued us in to the idea 67 00:03:43,324 --> 00:03:46,327 that there had to be something about this diamond 68 00:03:46,427 --> 00:03:49,463 that made it different than most other diamonds. 69 00:03:49,497 --> 00:03:53,401 We've never seen this intensity in any other diamond. 70 00:03:55,269 --> 00:03:56,971 But what was that something 71 00:03:57,004 --> 00:04:00,140 creating this mysterious red glow? 72 00:04:00,174 --> 00:04:03,244 Some believed the answer could be found in history 73 00:04:03,277 --> 00:04:07,481 or even in legend. 74 00:04:07,515 --> 00:04:09,917 But for the Smithsonian's experts, 75 00:04:09,950 --> 00:04:13,687 it was a question that only science could solve. 76 00:04:13,721 --> 00:04:15,389 The first stage of their investigation 77 00:04:15,423 --> 00:04:17,959 was to go back in time, 78 00:04:18,059 --> 00:04:23,565 to planet earth billions of years ago. 79 00:04:23,597 --> 00:04:26,066 What eventually became the Hope diamond 80 00:04:26,100 --> 00:04:27,368 was first created 81 00:04:27,401 --> 00:04:31,238 around 100 miles below the surface of the earth 82 00:04:31,272 --> 00:04:34,609 in a layer called the upper mantle. 83 00:04:34,708 --> 00:04:36,310 Like every other diamond, 84 00:04:36,343 --> 00:04:40,113 it began life as a cluster of carbon atoms. 85 00:04:40,147 --> 00:04:42,016 Under extreme pressure and heat, 86 00:04:42,049 --> 00:04:46,954 the atoms formed into the rigid crystal structure of diamond. 87 00:04:46,987 --> 00:04:48,589 But to get to the surface, 88 00:04:48,689 --> 00:04:51,959 a diamond has to survive a perilous journey. 89 00:04:55,029 --> 00:04:57,031 The diamond is a passenger. 90 00:04:57,064 --> 00:04:59,934 We've got molten magma that's now pushing, erupting 91 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:01,302 towards the surface of the earth. 92 00:05:01,335 --> 00:05:03,204 It carries the diamond with it. 93 00:05:03,237 --> 00:05:05,272 Now this eruption is so violent, 94 00:05:05,306 --> 00:05:07,175 it gets to the surface of the earth 95 00:05:07,208 --> 00:05:08,743 in a matter of a few hours. 96 00:05:08,909 --> 00:05:12,179 These diamonds are traveling at 30, 40 miles per hour. 97 00:05:12,213 --> 00:05:14,615 The diamond could have been destroyed during this. 98 00:05:14,648 --> 00:05:17,284 If the diamond traveled too slowly to the surface, 99 00:05:17,318 --> 00:05:19,453 it would change from diamond to graphite. 100 00:05:19,487 --> 00:05:21,222 Again, the diamond would be destroyed. 101 00:05:21,255 --> 00:05:22,656 You know, maybe one in a million, 102 00:05:22,690 --> 00:05:24,067 one in a billion diamonds that are down there 103 00:05:24,091 --> 00:05:26,126 actually make it to the surface. 104 00:05:29,296 --> 00:05:30,764 After the diamond crystal 105 00:05:30,798 --> 00:05:32,800 survived its journey to the surface, 106 00:05:32,833 --> 00:05:35,769 the molten rock cooled and solidified, 107 00:05:35,870 --> 00:05:38,539 entombing the diamond. 108 00:05:38,572 --> 00:05:42,609 Over millions of years, the molten volcanic rock eroded, 109 00:05:42,643 --> 00:05:45,146 releasing the diamond to be washed along rivers 110 00:05:45,179 --> 00:05:47,581 in the sub-continent of India, 111 00:05:47,615 --> 00:05:52,053 finally coming to rest in gravel deposits. 112 00:05:52,086 --> 00:05:55,356 And that was where, in the mid 17th century, 113 00:05:55,389 --> 00:05:59,326 human eyes first gazed upon the largest deep blue diamond 114 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,696 the world has ever seen. 115 00:06:03,430 --> 00:06:08,769 The Hope diamond was about to embark on a 350-year journey. 116 00:06:08,802 --> 00:06:10,470 It would pose a set of riddles 117 00:06:10,571 --> 00:06:15,776 encompassing science, history and a legendary curse. 118 00:06:20,514 --> 00:06:23,083 But it wasn't until the early 20th century. 119 00:06:23,117 --> 00:06:25,653 That the story of a curse first emerged 120 00:06:25,686 --> 00:06:28,088 and captured the public imagination. 121 00:06:28,122 --> 00:06:32,093 At the center of events was a famous American heiress... 122 00:06:32,126 --> 00:06:35,696 Evalyn Walsh Mclean. 123 00:06:35,729 --> 00:06:37,231 1910. 124 00:06:37,264 --> 00:06:40,334 Evalyn and her husband Ned are on vacation in Paris. 125 00:06:40,367 --> 00:06:41,602 They receive a visit 126 00:06:41,635 --> 00:06:43,904 from one of the world's most famous jewelers... 127 00:06:43,938 --> 00:06:45,540 Pierre Cartier... 128 00:06:45,573 --> 00:06:49,744 A man on constant lookout for wealthy customers. 129 00:06:49,777 --> 00:06:52,947 Cartier tells Evalyn an amazing story. 130 00:06:52,980 --> 00:06:55,049 He's recently acquired a diamond 131 00:06:55,082 --> 00:06:58,252 of unparalleled color, size and beauty 132 00:06:58,285 --> 00:07:03,290 and with a history to send shivers up the spine. 133 00:07:03,324 --> 00:07:06,127 The explorer who discovered it, he says, 134 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:08,596 stole it from the eye of a hindu goddess 135 00:07:08,629 --> 00:07:10,431 in an Indian temple. 136 00:07:10,464 --> 00:07:14,868 He was then ripped apart by wild dogs. 137 00:07:14,902 --> 00:07:17,071 Ever since, there has been a curse 138 00:07:17,104 --> 00:07:19,540 on whoever owned the diamond. 139 00:07:19,573 --> 00:07:24,144 A French queen wore it and was beheaded at the guillotine. 140 00:07:24,178 --> 00:07:27,515 The next owners, one of the richest families in Europe, 141 00:07:27,548 --> 00:07:30,718 were plunged into financial ruin. 142 00:07:30,751 --> 00:07:33,020 But far from scaring Evalyn away, 143 00:07:33,187 --> 00:07:34,422 Pierre Cartier's story 144 00:07:34,455 --> 00:07:36,958 only whets her desire for the diamond. 145 00:07:36,991 --> 00:07:40,027 Evalyn was totally taken by Cartier's story, 146 00:07:40,127 --> 00:07:42,096 I think she was entranced by him. 147 00:07:42,129 --> 00:07:45,265 Cartier stage-managed it so beautifully, 148 00:07:45,299 --> 00:07:46,634 so he was telling the story 149 00:07:46,667 --> 00:07:49,570 and all the time holding in front of him 150 00:07:49,603 --> 00:07:53,407 this package with the diamond in it. 151 00:07:53,507 --> 00:07:57,244 For Cartier, Evalyn is a prime catch. 152 00:07:57,278 --> 00:07:59,914 She agrees to a deal... 153 00:07:59,947 --> 00:08:04,418 She'll buy the Hope diamond for $180,000, 154 00:08:04,451 --> 00:08:07,387 over $4 million in today's money. 155 00:08:07,554 --> 00:08:09,823 But there's one proviso... 156 00:08:09,857 --> 00:08:12,093 If the legendary curse brings anything terrible 157 00:08:12,126 --> 00:08:14,662 within the next six months, 158 00:08:14,695 --> 00:08:18,699 she'll get her money back. 159 00:08:18,732 --> 00:08:21,768 Evalyn reveled in her diamond. 160 00:08:23,337 --> 00:08:26,207 So here's Evalyn at home wearing... 161 00:08:26,307 --> 00:08:30,645 She's wearing a gem around her neck. 162 00:08:30,678 --> 00:08:32,980 And there's the Hope. 163 00:08:33,013 --> 00:08:34,882 She loved the camera. 164 00:08:34,915 --> 00:08:37,885 She'd become her own kind of director. 165 00:08:37,918 --> 00:08:39,787 Evalyn Walsh Mclean's life. 166 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,523 Had been a true rags-to-riches story. 167 00:08:42,556 --> 00:08:44,725 She was born in 1886, 168 00:08:44,825 --> 00:08:49,163 the daughter of a gold miner who struck it rich in Colorado. 169 00:08:49,196 --> 00:08:52,700 At the age of 22, Evalyn married Ned Mclean, 170 00:08:52,733 --> 00:08:55,603 whose family owned banks, a railroad 171 00:08:55,636 --> 00:08:58,405 and the Washington Post newspaper. 172 00:08:58,505 --> 00:09:01,475 Buying the Hope diamond was the most exciting moment yet 173 00:09:01,508 --> 00:09:05,078 in the spectacular life of Evalyn and Ned. 174 00:09:05,112 --> 00:09:09,283 They lived a very opulent life, had everything. 175 00:09:09,316 --> 00:09:13,754 They even built golf holes when Ned became... 176 00:09:13,787 --> 00:09:17,357 Was close to Senator and then President Harding. 177 00:09:17,391 --> 00:09:20,060 She had fountains at the estate, so these were... 178 00:09:20,094 --> 00:09:25,333 This was like being in a massive Hollywood movie in a way. 179 00:09:27,768 --> 00:09:30,337 Evalyn owned many houses. 180 00:09:30,437 --> 00:09:33,273 The largest one still standing is a fabulous mansion 181 00:09:33,307 --> 00:09:35,342 which was once the most expensive property 182 00:09:35,376 --> 00:09:37,812 in Washington, D.C. 183 00:09:37,845 --> 00:09:40,915 Today, It's the home of the Indonesian embassy 184 00:09:41,081 --> 00:09:43,584 and Evalyn's great-grandson, Joseph Gregory, 185 00:09:43,684 --> 00:09:47,988 has come to visit. 186 00:09:48,021 --> 00:09:50,100 When you first walk into the entry hallway of the house, 187 00:09:50,124 --> 00:09:51,559 you see the Tiffany glass 188 00:09:51,592 --> 00:09:53,327 that's in the middle of the entry hallway. 189 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,863 Now, how many people during that time 190 00:09:55,896 --> 00:09:57,498 would have something like that? 191 00:09:57,598 --> 00:09:58,842 Not even the President of the United States 192 00:09:58,866 --> 00:10:01,936 could afford something like that. 193 00:10:02,002 --> 00:10:03,904 Celebrities, politicians, 194 00:10:03,937 --> 00:10:06,840 even the American President, Warren G. Harding, 195 00:10:06,874 --> 00:10:09,377 all flocked to Evalyn's parties, 196 00:10:09,410 --> 00:10:12,413 knowing they were in for an unforgettable night 197 00:10:12,446 --> 00:10:15,115 with the Hope diamond at the center 198 00:10:15,215 --> 00:10:18,318 on a most unusual model. 199 00:10:18,352 --> 00:10:21,188 She had a great dane named Mike, 200 00:10:21,288 --> 00:10:24,491 and Mike would sometimes wear the Hope diamond. 201 00:10:30,764 --> 00:10:33,200 Evalyn never believed that the Hope diamond curse 202 00:10:33,233 --> 00:10:35,435 would strike her. 203 00:10:35,469 --> 00:10:39,173 But nearly 10 years after she first laid eyes on the diamond, 204 00:10:39,206 --> 00:10:41,875 her fairytale life would be shattered. 205 00:10:41,909 --> 00:10:44,945 Death and disaster would strike her family. 206 00:10:44,978 --> 00:10:47,380 It was a series of events that would cement 207 00:10:47,414 --> 00:10:51,118 the idea of a curse in the popular imagination. 208 00:10:54,721 --> 00:10:56,923 Was there something strange or supernatural 209 00:10:56,957 --> 00:10:59,593 about the Hope diamond? 210 00:10:59,726 --> 00:11:02,329 Could it be related to the mysterious red afterglow 211 00:11:02,362 --> 00:11:06,166 that scientists first noticed in the 1960s? 212 00:11:09,036 --> 00:11:12,106 Looks very much like a glowing Ember, for example, 213 00:11:12,139 --> 00:11:13,540 in a barbecue grill at night. 214 00:11:13,574 --> 00:11:15,009 You look at these glowing coals, 215 00:11:15,042 --> 00:11:19,413 and that's really what the diamond reminds me of. 216 00:11:19,446 --> 00:11:21,481 Smithsonian scientists were beginning to think 217 00:11:21,515 --> 00:11:23,183 of a daring experiment 218 00:11:23,283 --> 00:11:25,285 which they Hoped would show the world 219 00:11:25,319 --> 00:11:26,987 that the riddle of the red glow 220 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:31,024 was a matter of science, not superstition. 221 00:11:34,194 --> 00:11:36,063 But while science would be one tool 222 00:11:36,096 --> 00:11:37,998 to investigate the diamond, 223 00:11:38,031 --> 00:11:39,900 history would be another. 224 00:11:48,775 --> 00:11:51,044 Was there evidence in the Hope diamond's journey 225 00:11:51,178 --> 00:11:54,948 to support the idea of a curse? 226 00:11:55,048 --> 00:12:00,620 What was fact and what was legend? 227 00:12:00,654 --> 00:12:02,289 One thing was certain... 228 00:12:02,322 --> 00:12:04,191 In the mid 17th century, 229 00:12:04,224 --> 00:12:07,761 a French explorer, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, 230 00:12:07,794 --> 00:12:09,996 traveled to an ancient kingdom in India 231 00:12:10,030 --> 00:12:13,033 in search of precious gemstones. 232 00:12:13,066 --> 00:12:16,703 At that time, India was the only place in the world 233 00:12:16,737 --> 00:12:20,374 where diamonds had been discovered. 234 00:12:20,407 --> 00:12:22,609 Historian Omar khalidi 235 00:12:22,643 --> 00:12:25,646 has studied Tavernier's own account of his travels 236 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,682 to a place called golkonda. 237 00:12:28,715 --> 00:12:31,718 It was a time when the kingdom of golkonda 238 00:12:31,752 --> 00:12:34,221 was at the height of its prosperity 239 00:12:34,254 --> 00:12:38,058 and the center of the world gem trade, 240 00:12:38,091 --> 00:12:41,962 and the purpose of Tavernier's journey 241 00:12:42,029 --> 00:12:49,537 was to buy diamonds for the royalty and nobility of France. 242 00:12:49,570 --> 00:12:51,672 Tavernier writes of visiting a temple 243 00:12:51,772 --> 00:12:55,276 containing a large Hindu idol. 244 00:12:55,309 --> 00:12:57,444 "The great idol on the altar" 245 00:12:57,477 --> 00:13:00,213 has two diamonds for his eyes, 246 00:13:00,314 --> 00:13:02,283 and the smallest of these diamonds 247 00:13:02,316 --> 00:13:05,319 "weighs about 40 carats." 248 00:13:05,352 --> 00:13:07,988 Tavernier then relates an extraordinary story 249 00:13:08,021 --> 00:13:09,422 of a local jeweler 250 00:13:09,456 --> 00:13:12,793 who extracted a diamond from one of the idol's eyes 251 00:13:12,826 --> 00:13:14,728 and was horribly punished. 252 00:13:14,761 --> 00:13:16,963 "As he was about to leave in the morning," 253 00:13:16,997 --> 00:13:20,400 this thief, they say, died at the door 254 00:13:20,434 --> 00:13:23,170 and the idol performed this miracle 255 00:13:23,203 --> 00:13:26,406 "as a punishment of sacrilege." 256 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,110 Many Indians believed that diamonds had inherent qualities 257 00:13:30,143 --> 00:13:34,314 which, depending on their color, could signal danger. 258 00:13:34,348 --> 00:13:37,918 Diamonds had significance beyond wealth. 259 00:13:37,951 --> 00:13:42,222 White diamonds were signs of prosperity; 260 00:13:42,255 --> 00:13:46,126 red diamonds were associated with bravery; 261 00:13:46,159 --> 00:13:51,331 whereas the blue diamonds were associated 262 00:13:51,365 --> 00:13:56,503 with misfortunes, ill omen, bad luck and so forth. 263 00:13:59,439 --> 00:14:02,842 On December 6, 1668, 264 00:14:02,876 --> 00:14:06,279 Tavernier appears at the French court in Versailles 265 00:14:06,313 --> 00:14:10,584 carrying an enormous blue diamond. 266 00:14:10,617 --> 00:14:12,352 There is no record of him revealing 267 00:14:12,386 --> 00:14:16,690 where or how he's obtained it. 268 00:14:16,723 --> 00:14:20,894 Tavernier's client is Europe's most illustrious king... 269 00:14:20,994 --> 00:14:23,997 Louis XIV of France. 270 00:14:24,031 --> 00:14:26,100 For historian Lucy Worsley, 271 00:14:26,133 --> 00:14:29,770 Tavernier's glittering diamonds were the perfect match 272 00:14:29,803 --> 00:14:33,240 for the monarch who called himself "the sun king." 273 00:14:33,340 --> 00:14:34,975 When Louis XIV was here, 274 00:14:35,008 --> 00:14:38,078 this room was full of light through the windows, 275 00:14:38,111 --> 00:14:40,413 from the mirrors, from the candles, 276 00:14:40,447 --> 00:14:43,050 from the silver furniture and also from the king himself 277 00:14:43,083 --> 00:14:46,186 and the diamonds that he might have been wearing. 278 00:14:46,219 --> 00:14:49,856 Louis was the biggest spender of the age. 279 00:14:49,890 --> 00:14:54,328 He single-handedly sparked the world's obsession with diamonds. 280 00:14:54,361 --> 00:14:57,631 Louis XIV really created the market in diamonds. 281 00:14:57,664 --> 00:15:00,734 Up until him, the jewel that everyone had wanted 282 00:15:00,767 --> 00:15:02,869 was the pearl, pearls were the thing, 283 00:15:02,903 --> 00:15:04,972 but suddenly Tavernier arrives from India 284 00:15:05,005 --> 00:15:07,140 with all of these fabulous new stones, 285 00:15:07,174 --> 00:15:12,212 and Louis XIV buys 40 big ones and 1,200 little ones, 286 00:15:12,245 --> 00:15:13,523 has them cut, starts wearing them, 287 00:15:13,547 --> 00:15:15,549 suddenly everyone wants diamonds, 288 00:15:15,582 --> 00:15:17,317 they're the new craze. 289 00:15:17,350 --> 00:15:20,854 Tavernier grows rich from this new European craze, 290 00:15:20,921 --> 00:15:23,857 netting the equivalent of nearly $10 million 291 00:15:23,957 --> 00:15:25,959 for his Indian diamonds, 292 00:15:25,992 --> 00:15:29,395 but the most desirable of all and Louis' favorite 293 00:15:29,429 --> 00:15:33,566 is an enormous 115-carat dark blue. 294 00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:37,370 But Louis is not fully satisfied 295 00:15:37,404 --> 00:15:40,073 with the diamond Tavernier has brought him. 296 00:15:40,107 --> 00:15:44,011 He's willing to cut down a 115-carat diamond 297 00:15:44,044 --> 00:15:48,215 to create something even more dazzling. 298 00:15:48,248 --> 00:15:51,585 The science of cutting diamonds to enhance their brilliance 299 00:15:51,618 --> 00:15:52,752 is still new, 300 00:15:52,786 --> 00:15:54,087 but Louis' court jeweler 301 00:15:54,221 --> 00:15:56,957 will create perhaps the ultimate example. 302 00:15:56,990 --> 00:16:00,961 He grinds and polishes 63 new facets 303 00:16:01,061 --> 00:16:03,263 to create the French blue. 304 00:16:03,296 --> 00:16:08,201 In the process, he shrinks it to 69 carats. 305 00:16:08,301 --> 00:16:11,271 It was really a masterful cutting job of the day. 306 00:16:11,404 --> 00:16:14,207 I mean, you can only imagine how long it must have taken, 307 00:16:14,241 --> 00:16:16,143 how painstaking it must have been 308 00:16:16,176 --> 00:16:18,345 with the tools available at that time, 309 00:16:18,378 --> 00:16:22,716 but what resulted was what was considered at the time by many 310 00:16:22,749 --> 00:16:27,587 to be the world's most beautiful diamond. 311 00:16:27,621 --> 00:16:31,191 For four decades, the French blue is in the emblem 312 00:16:31,224 --> 00:16:33,293 of the order of the golden fleece, 313 00:16:33,326 --> 00:16:36,162 part of the French crown jewels. 314 00:16:36,196 --> 00:16:38,231 But by the end of the 18th century, 315 00:16:38,265 --> 00:16:41,502 time is running out for the decadent French royals. 316 00:16:41,535 --> 00:16:44,038 And for the queen, Marie Antoinette, 317 00:16:44,137 --> 00:16:49,175 diamonds will not turn out to be a girl's best friend. 318 00:16:49,209 --> 00:16:53,380 In July 1789, public anger spills over 319 00:16:53,413 --> 00:16:55,649 into full blown revolution 320 00:16:55,682 --> 00:17:00,120 against Louis XVI and his diamond-loving queen. 321 00:17:02,422 --> 00:17:06,726 Pierre Cartier will later relish telling Evalyn Walsh Mclean. 322 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:08,528 That Marie Antoinette wore the French blue 323 00:17:08,562 --> 00:17:10,831 around her delicate neck, 324 00:17:10,964 --> 00:17:16,102 a neck that will soon be chopped by the guillotine. 325 00:17:16,203 --> 00:17:18,539 The crown jewels are moved to this building, 326 00:17:18,572 --> 00:17:21,475 the royal warehouse, for safekeeping. 327 00:17:21,508 --> 00:17:23,677 They will not be safe for long. 328 00:17:30,884 --> 00:17:33,353 September 1792. 329 00:17:33,486 --> 00:17:35,688 A gang of professional thieves 330 00:17:35,722 --> 00:17:38,892 commits the greatest heist in history. 331 00:17:38,992 --> 00:17:42,562 The robbers climb up the outside of the royal warehouse. 332 00:17:42,596 --> 00:17:44,498 They break into the jewel room 333 00:17:44,531 --> 00:17:47,634 and take off with a glittering haul. 334 00:17:47,667 --> 00:17:50,870 Amazingly, no one notices the theft 335 00:17:50,971 --> 00:17:54,541 and they return over the next five nights. 336 00:17:54,674 --> 00:17:58,745 By the end, they get away with nearly all the crown jewels, 337 00:17:58,778 --> 00:18:00,079 a priceless collection 338 00:18:00,113 --> 00:18:02,482 that includes the order of the golden fleece 339 00:18:02,515 --> 00:18:05,351 with its dazzling French blue diamond. 340 00:18:09,089 --> 00:18:12,359 It will never be seen again. 341 00:18:13,727 --> 00:18:19,333 So what happened to the French blue? 342 00:18:19,366 --> 00:18:22,302 In 1812, 20 years after the theft 343 00:18:22,469 --> 00:18:24,137 of the French crown jewels, 344 00:18:24,170 --> 00:18:26,639 a mysterious blue diamond appears 345 00:18:26,673 --> 00:18:28,642 in a jeweler's shop in London. 346 00:18:28,675 --> 00:18:32,546 A memorandum authenticates its size and shape. 347 00:18:32,579 --> 00:18:34,648 It compares to the French blue, 348 00:18:34,681 --> 00:18:37,484 but there's one obvious difference. 349 00:18:37,517 --> 00:18:40,186 It's a completely different size. 350 00:18:40,287 --> 00:18:42,623 The French blue is 67 carats, 351 00:18:42,789 --> 00:18:44,758 a little more than 67 carats. 352 00:18:44,791 --> 00:18:47,560 This gem is 44 carats, 353 00:18:47,727 --> 00:18:51,764 and the question is at that time, in 1812, 354 00:18:51,798 --> 00:18:53,733 at the time of this memorandum, 355 00:18:53,767 --> 00:18:57,671 nobody was really asking whether these diamonds were the same, 356 00:18:57,704 --> 00:19:02,108 so this was thought to be just a new diamond. 357 00:19:02,208 --> 00:19:04,177 The new London blue's next destination 358 00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:06,245 has never been proved, 359 00:19:06,346 --> 00:19:08,381 but the finger points to none other 360 00:19:08,415 --> 00:19:13,186 than the future British king, George IV. 361 00:19:13,353 --> 00:19:16,890 It's just so tempting to think that George IV 362 00:19:16,923 --> 00:19:18,758 was the ideal purchaser. 363 00:19:18,792 --> 00:19:20,193 Who else could have afforded it? 364 00:19:20,293 --> 00:19:21,694 Who else would have wanted it? 365 00:19:21,728 --> 00:19:24,731 But what we don't have is any kind of documentation 366 00:19:24,764 --> 00:19:26,099 from the royal archives 367 00:19:26,132 --> 00:19:27,600 or connected with George personally, 368 00:19:27,634 --> 00:19:30,270 saying, "Yeah, I bought the diamond." 369 00:19:30,437 --> 00:19:33,907 In 1830, George IV dies. 370 00:19:33,940 --> 00:19:36,209 Shortly afterwards, the London blue diamond 371 00:19:36,309 --> 00:19:40,046 reappears again in documented historical fact. 372 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:41,548 It's bought by the man 373 00:19:41,581 --> 00:19:43,850 who will give the diamond its famous name, 374 00:19:43,883 --> 00:19:47,987 a wealthy British banker, Henry Philip Hope. 375 00:19:49,923 --> 00:19:52,959 In 1851 the Hope diamond goes on display 376 00:19:52,993 --> 00:19:55,562 at the great exhibition in London. 377 00:19:55,595 --> 00:19:58,031 It's a sensation. 378 00:19:58,064 --> 00:20:02,835 But a French gem expert now puts forward an extraordinary theory. 379 00:20:02,869 --> 00:20:05,171 He suggests that the Hope diamond 380 00:20:05,205 --> 00:20:08,775 might be a re-cut version of the French blue, 381 00:20:08,808 --> 00:20:13,746 which had disappeared in the French revolution. 382 00:20:13,780 --> 00:20:17,917 The theory would remain unproven until as recently as 2005, 383 00:20:17,951 --> 00:20:21,588 when scientists from the Smithsonian and New Mexico 384 00:20:21,688 --> 00:20:25,492 finally solved the mystery. 385 00:20:25,525 --> 00:20:29,729 Using computer-aided geometry, they modeled both diamonds. 386 00:20:29,763 --> 00:20:32,532 They then created a replica of the French blue 387 00:20:32,632 --> 00:20:35,435 and a mold that precisely fit it. 388 00:20:35,468 --> 00:20:38,838 The next move was to insert the smaller Hope diamond 389 00:20:38,972 --> 00:20:45,178 into the mold and inject it with wax. 390 00:20:45,211 --> 00:20:46,946 They found that the Hope diamond 391 00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:50,083 would fit snugly inside the French blue. 392 00:20:50,116 --> 00:20:52,885 There was only one conclusion. 393 00:20:52,986 --> 00:20:55,755 The Hope diamond that we know today 394 00:20:55,789 --> 00:20:58,759 is in fact the only surviving piece 395 00:20:58,792 --> 00:21:01,194 of the stone that was originally sold 396 00:21:01,227 --> 00:21:06,299 to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. 397 00:21:06,332 --> 00:21:08,768 So did those who possessed the diamond 398 00:21:08,802 --> 00:21:10,470 during this murky period 399 00:21:10,503 --> 00:21:12,839 suffer from a curse? 400 00:21:12,872 --> 00:21:16,008 George IV certainly met an agonizing end. 401 00:21:16,042 --> 00:21:20,246 He died in pain, overweight and suffering from gout. 402 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,284 Fortune would also not smile on the Hope family. 403 00:21:24,317 --> 00:21:28,354 In 1887, 21-year-old Lord Francis Hope 404 00:21:28,388 --> 00:21:31,524 inherits the family estate, art collection 405 00:21:31,558 --> 00:21:34,561 and famous blue diamond. 406 00:21:34,594 --> 00:21:36,696 But he's about to lose it all 407 00:21:36,729 --> 00:21:38,898 thanks partly to an American showgirl 408 00:21:38,932 --> 00:21:42,235 named May Yohe. 409 00:21:42,268 --> 00:21:44,070 He treated her extremely well, 410 00:21:44,204 --> 00:21:46,573 he wanted to impress this American gal. 411 00:21:46,606 --> 00:21:51,277 He actually was part owner of the Lyric theatre in London, 412 00:21:51,311 --> 00:21:54,414 and he arranged for her to get a contract there 413 00:21:54,447 --> 00:21:56,082 and become a leading lady. 414 00:21:56,182 --> 00:21:58,484 He financed, he owned the newspaper, 415 00:21:58,518 --> 00:22:00,387 and he really promoted and marketed her 416 00:22:00,420 --> 00:22:03,556 because he wanted her to shine. 417 00:22:03,590 --> 00:22:05,725 But for Lord Francis Hope, 418 00:22:05,758 --> 00:22:09,295 May Yohe turns out to be a ruinous extravagance. 419 00:22:09,395 --> 00:22:11,163 To maintain her lifestyle, 420 00:22:11,197 --> 00:22:14,734 he gambles away the equivalent of $75 million, 421 00:22:14,767 --> 00:22:17,970 squandering the family fortune. 422 00:22:18,104 --> 00:22:20,974 In 1901, May leaves him 423 00:22:21,007 --> 00:22:23,476 and later makes a Hollywood movie of their life, 424 00:22:23,510 --> 00:22:29,282 blaming their downfall on the curse of the blue diamond. 425 00:22:29,315 --> 00:22:33,286 Lord Francis is forced to sell the Hope diamond. 426 00:22:33,319 --> 00:22:35,721 He dies financially ruined. 427 00:22:35,755 --> 00:22:39,392 For several years, the gemstone crisscrosses the Atlantic, 428 00:22:39,492 --> 00:22:40,994 looking for a buyer, 429 00:22:41,027 --> 00:22:45,465 until finally Pierre Cartier finds Evalyn Walsh Mclean. 430 00:22:51,037 --> 00:22:52,805 In her early years of owning it, 431 00:22:52,872 --> 00:22:56,676 the Hope diamond had brought Evalyn nothing but pleasure. 432 00:22:56,709 --> 00:22:59,111 The curse was just a story. 433 00:23:01,748 --> 00:23:05,819 But then a series of tragedies struck her family 434 00:23:05,852 --> 00:23:09,622 and propelled the curse onto the world stage. 435 00:23:13,726 --> 00:23:16,429 While Evalyn is away at the Kentucky Derby, 436 00:23:16,529 --> 00:23:20,099 her 9-year-old son Vinson is playing near the road 437 00:23:20,133 --> 00:23:24,137 in front of their estate in northwest Washington. 438 00:23:29,242 --> 00:23:32,645 The boy runs out in front of a passing Ford model T. 439 00:23:37,150 --> 00:23:38,852 He's knocked to the ground, 440 00:23:38,885 --> 00:23:41,254 his head smashing into the concrete. 441 00:23:41,421 --> 00:23:43,256 Vinson. 442 00:23:43,289 --> 00:23:45,091 My god, what happened? 443 00:23:45,124 --> 00:23:49,895 A few hours later, Vinson Walsh Mclean dies. 444 00:23:49,929 --> 00:23:54,066 And the family's misfortune becomes headline news. 445 00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:55,201 Get some help, man. 446 00:23:55,235 --> 00:23:58,338 And on the next day in the papers, 447 00:23:58,371 --> 00:23:59,806 in the New York times 448 00:23:59,839 --> 00:24:03,476 and following in other papers around the country, 449 00:24:03,509 --> 00:24:06,679 people speculated was this yet another instance 450 00:24:06,713 --> 00:24:09,716 of the curse of the Hope diamond? 451 00:24:09,749 --> 00:24:12,085 Evalyn Walsh Mclean's dream life. 452 00:24:12,185 --> 00:24:15,455 Is shattered in an instant. 453 00:24:15,555 --> 00:24:19,092 After Vinson's death, the bad luck multiplies. 454 00:24:19,125 --> 00:24:21,561 The Washington Post goes bankrupt 455 00:24:21,594 --> 00:24:24,764 and the Mclean family fortune is decimated. 456 00:24:24,864 --> 00:24:27,033 Evalyn's marriage falls apart. 457 00:24:27,066 --> 00:24:31,571 Her husband Ned ends up in an insane asylum, 458 00:24:31,604 --> 00:24:35,741 and their only daughter commits suicide at the age of 25. 459 00:24:39,512 --> 00:24:43,216 Evalyn always insisted she didn't believe in the legend, 460 00:24:43,249 --> 00:24:47,720 but when she died at 60 after a lifetime of tragedies, 461 00:24:47,754 --> 00:24:54,094 she had become the embodiment of the curse. 462 00:24:54,127 --> 00:24:57,430 Her lavish collection of jewels was put up for sale 463 00:24:57,463 --> 00:25:00,633 with the Hope diamond as the star attraction. 464 00:25:00,667 --> 00:25:03,336 Whether it was science, history or legend, 465 00:25:03,369 --> 00:25:05,238 one thing seemed clear... 466 00:25:05,271 --> 00:25:08,508 The Hope diamond was unlike any other, 467 00:25:08,574 --> 00:25:12,745 and the discovery in the 1960s of its mysterious red glow. 468 00:25:12,779 --> 00:25:15,548 Or phosphorescence, as scientists call it, 469 00:25:15,581 --> 00:25:18,284 only reinforced the mystery. 470 00:25:18,318 --> 00:25:22,522 Why does it show this, this very intense phosphorescence 471 00:25:22,555 --> 00:25:25,091 that seemed to be unusual 472 00:25:25,124 --> 00:25:29,528 and perhaps even unique to the Hope diamond? 473 00:25:29,562 --> 00:25:32,398 To test whether the Hope really is unique, 474 00:25:32,432 --> 00:25:35,869 Jeff Post needs to compare it with other blue diamonds, 475 00:25:35,902 --> 00:25:38,238 but blues are very rare. 476 00:25:38,271 --> 00:25:40,907 Jeff and his colleague Eloise Gaillou 477 00:25:40,940 --> 00:25:43,242 travel to New York City's diamond district 478 00:25:43,276 --> 00:25:46,446 to the one man he knows can help, a dealer... 479 00:25:46,479 --> 00:25:48,915 Alan Bronstein. 480 00:25:48,948 --> 00:25:52,785 We've gotten together about 90 blue diamonds for him, 481 00:25:52,819 --> 00:25:55,088 which have a variety of shades 482 00:25:55,121 --> 00:25:57,790 and have a variety of saturations 483 00:25:58,024 --> 00:26:00,527 and grayness modification, 484 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,896 so that is, that's a large number of blue diamonds 485 00:26:03,930 --> 00:26:07,600 to have in one place to study at one time. 486 00:26:07,633 --> 00:26:11,470 Using a spectrometer to measure the wavelengths of light, 487 00:26:11,504 --> 00:26:16,342 they flood the stones with ultraviolet. 488 00:26:16,376 --> 00:26:18,011 When they turn off the light, 489 00:26:18,044 --> 00:26:21,080 their instrument picks up the phosphorescence. 490 00:26:26,085 --> 00:26:28,554 Ok, so we have a really strong peak 491 00:26:28,588 --> 00:26:30,723 in the blue/green portion of the spectrum, 492 00:26:30,757 --> 00:26:33,260 just the opposite of what we see in the Hope diamond. 493 00:26:35,595 --> 00:26:37,497 We were surprised to see that, 494 00:26:37,530 --> 00:26:40,366 in all of the blue diamonds that we've looked at so far, 495 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,936 and It's approaching 80 blue diamonds, 496 00:26:42,969 --> 00:26:46,906 all of them show a phosphorescence. 497 00:26:46,939 --> 00:26:48,707 All blue diamonds glow, 498 00:26:48,808 --> 00:26:50,510 but the experiment shows 499 00:26:50,543 --> 00:26:53,446 that each has its own distinctive signature. 500 00:26:53,479 --> 00:26:57,183 Some red like the Hope, others blue/green... 501 00:26:57,216 --> 00:27:02,154 And none shines as intensely or for as long as the Hope. 502 00:27:02,188 --> 00:27:07,794 So why do blue diamonds have this eerie phosphorescence? 503 00:27:07,894 --> 00:27:09,396 The fact that we only see 504 00:27:09,429 --> 00:27:12,599 this particular kind of phosphorescence in blue diamonds 505 00:27:12,632 --> 00:27:15,735 strongly suggests that it is correlated 506 00:27:15,768 --> 00:27:18,070 with the presence of boron. 507 00:27:18,171 --> 00:27:20,573 Boron is an element like carbon, 508 00:27:20,606 --> 00:27:24,877 a basic building block of nature found, for example, in soap. 509 00:27:24,977 --> 00:27:27,213 But It's extremely rare deep in the earth 510 00:27:27,313 --> 00:27:29,148 where diamonds are formed. 511 00:27:29,182 --> 00:27:31,685 The Hope diamond glows far more intensely 512 00:27:31,717 --> 00:27:34,753 and longer than any of the smaller diamonds, 513 00:27:34,787 --> 00:27:38,157 so what impact might boron be having inside it? 514 00:27:38,191 --> 00:27:40,794 To find out, Jeff Post will have to take 515 00:27:40,893 --> 00:27:42,895 a sample from the Hope diamond. 516 00:27:42,962 --> 00:27:47,300 The only way to do that seems almost unthinkable. 517 00:27:47,333 --> 00:27:51,204 He will have to drill into America's crown jewel. 518 00:27:54,073 --> 00:27:56,576 His experiment would not be possible 519 00:27:56,609 --> 00:27:59,712 if the diamond were still adorning someone's neck. 520 00:27:59,745 --> 00:28:01,847 But thanks to a surprising donation, 521 00:28:02,014 --> 00:28:06,051 the Hope became a specimen for science. 522 00:28:06,085 --> 00:28:08,387 After Evalyn Walsh Mclean died, 523 00:28:08,488 --> 00:28:13,460 the next owner was the jeweler to the stars, Harry Winston. 524 00:28:16,095 --> 00:28:19,865 Many believe Harry Winston will simply remount the Hope diamond 525 00:28:19,899 --> 00:28:21,501 and find a new buyer, 526 00:28:21,534 --> 00:28:25,538 but he knows it might now be a hard sell. 527 00:28:25,638 --> 00:28:26,873 Think about it this way... 528 00:28:27,006 --> 00:28:29,509 He knew of the curse story. 529 00:28:29,542 --> 00:28:32,645 He knew also that the cost itself, 530 00:28:32,678 --> 00:28:36,649 the price of the stone, went into the millions. 531 00:28:36,682 --> 00:28:39,885 To find a client willing to buy 532 00:28:39,919 --> 00:28:43,756 a quote, unquote "cursed" stone for that amount of money 533 00:28:43,789 --> 00:28:46,959 might have been a huge problem. 534 00:28:47,026 --> 00:28:50,329 Instead, Winston begins to think of an act 535 00:28:50,363 --> 00:28:52,432 of extraordinary philanthropy... 536 00:28:52,565 --> 00:28:57,370 He will donate the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian institution. 537 00:28:57,403 --> 00:29:00,106 But when the news of his intention leaks out, 538 00:29:00,139 --> 00:29:02,341 not everyone is delighted. 539 00:29:02,375 --> 00:29:06,846 A vocal minority is petrified by what might happen to the nation. 540 00:29:06,879 --> 00:29:09,915 One American writes to the Smithsonian... 541 00:29:09,949 --> 00:29:11,350 "With our neighbor Russia" 542 00:29:11,384 --> 00:29:13,119 able to blow our country to pieces 543 00:29:13,152 --> 00:29:15,588 in a few hours of missile bombardment, 544 00:29:15,621 --> 00:29:17,523 it would be insane to tempt fate 545 00:29:17,557 --> 00:29:22,262 "by having anything to do with this ghastly gem." 546 00:29:22,295 --> 00:29:25,365 Actually, people even bypassed the Smithsonian. 547 00:29:25,398 --> 00:29:27,600 They wrote to President Eisenhower 548 00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:31,771 and they said, "are you crazy?" 549 00:29:31,804 --> 00:29:35,274 This Hope dia... This diamond is cursed." 550 00:29:35,308 --> 00:29:37,877 But the Smithsonian doesn't flinch. 551 00:29:37,910 --> 00:29:39,678 They accept the diamond. 552 00:29:39,779 --> 00:29:42,849 You would think Winston would send his priceless diamond 553 00:29:42,882 --> 00:29:45,351 in an armored car. 554 00:29:45,384 --> 00:29:47,820 Instead, what does he do? 555 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,722 What he always did. 556 00:29:49,755 --> 00:29:53,759 He mails it by regular Post. 557 00:29:53,793 --> 00:29:56,162 Today, here came a brown paper wrapped package 558 00:29:56,195 --> 00:29:59,498 sent by registered mail for $152 Postage. 559 00:29:59,599 --> 00:30:00,767 New York diamond merchant... 560 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,702 Winston's unusual delivery method 561 00:30:02,868 --> 00:30:05,871 ensures news coverage throughout the country. 562 00:30:05,972 --> 00:30:08,675 A gift to the Smithsonian worth a million dollars... 563 00:30:08,708 --> 00:30:12,178 The Hope diamond, the biggest blue diamond in the world. 564 00:30:12,211 --> 00:30:15,147 The jewel is put in a specially designed safe 565 00:30:15,214 --> 00:30:19,351 where the public can view it through bullet-proof glass. 566 00:30:19,385 --> 00:30:21,520 With the Hope diamond coming here, 567 00:30:21,554 --> 00:30:23,923 Harry Winston's vision started to unfold... 568 00:30:24,023 --> 00:30:27,493 That is, to build a great national gem collection. 569 00:30:27,526 --> 00:30:29,438 As he liked to say, we don't have a king and queen, 570 00:30:29,462 --> 00:30:33,466 but we should have our crown jewels. 571 00:30:33,499 --> 00:30:36,702 50 years after Harry Winston gave Hope to America, 572 00:30:36,769 --> 00:30:39,538 his company has offered to create 573 00:30:39,572 --> 00:30:42,141 an anniversary party dress for the diamond... 574 00:30:42,174 --> 00:30:43,976 A new, temporary setting 575 00:30:44,010 --> 00:30:48,748 using modern design techniques to showcase its brilliance. 576 00:30:48,781 --> 00:30:50,016 Our rule in this studio 577 00:30:50,049 --> 00:30:52,919 is to start with no limitation. 578 00:30:52,952 --> 00:30:57,423 With no constraint of price, of size, of craziness, 579 00:30:57,456 --> 00:30:59,191 of anything. 580 00:30:59,225 --> 00:31:02,995 What you want to do is enhance the color and the size 581 00:31:03,029 --> 00:31:06,799 and the life of that stone without overpowering. 582 00:31:06,832 --> 00:31:09,435 From 25 initial sketches, 583 00:31:09,468 --> 00:31:12,604 the Smithsonian selects three finalists... 584 00:31:22,782 --> 00:31:24,784 But the final selection is in the hands 585 00:31:24,817 --> 00:31:27,653 of the Hope diamond's true owners. 586 00:31:27,687 --> 00:31:30,290 We really wanted to involve the American audience, 587 00:31:30,456 --> 00:31:34,794 the American public, to have them choose the necklace 588 00:31:34,827 --> 00:31:38,264 that would surround the Hope diamond. 589 00:31:38,297 --> 00:31:40,266 The fate of the Hope diamond, 590 00:31:40,299 --> 00:31:41,700 It's all in your hands. 591 00:31:41,734 --> 00:31:43,569 Hope takes on a new design for a famous jewel. 592 00:31:43,602 --> 00:31:44,970 The public will get to decide 593 00:31:45,004 --> 00:31:46,472 what setting it will have. 594 00:31:46,605 --> 00:31:48,974 Starting today, you can help pick one of those settings. 595 00:31:51,444 --> 00:31:53,613 As the Hope diamond goes on display 596 00:31:53,646 --> 00:31:56,215 for the first time out of its historic setting, 597 00:31:56,248 --> 00:31:59,685 over 100,000 votes flood in. 598 00:32:02,722 --> 00:32:06,226 And the winner is... 599 00:32:06,258 --> 00:32:07,960 Embracing Hope. 600 00:32:14,834 --> 00:32:16,869 Creating such a complex setting 601 00:32:16,902 --> 00:32:20,739 will take a pound of platinum, over 300 baguette diamonds, 602 00:32:20,773 --> 00:32:23,609 and months of painstaking work. 603 00:32:41,227 --> 00:32:42,695 But some might wonder: 604 00:32:42,728 --> 00:32:45,397 By changing the setting, even temporarily, 605 00:32:45,431 --> 00:32:48,567 could they be invoking the legendary curse? 606 00:32:53,606 --> 00:32:55,475 Over the centuries, the diamond has acquired 607 00:32:55,508 --> 00:33:00,913 an unsavory reputation as a producer of bad luck. 608 00:33:00,946 --> 00:33:04,216 Within a year of its donation to the Smithsonian, 609 00:33:04,250 --> 00:33:07,453 the Hope appeared to claim another victim... 610 00:33:07,486 --> 00:33:10,222 The mailman James Todd. 611 00:33:10,256 --> 00:33:11,891 He was injured by a truck, 612 00:33:12,057 --> 00:33:15,961 his wife died and his house burned down. 613 00:33:16,061 --> 00:33:18,797 Over the years, letters have continued to arrive 614 00:33:18,831 --> 00:33:20,566 at the national gem collection 615 00:33:20,599 --> 00:33:22,935 warning of the curse. 616 00:33:25,871 --> 00:33:28,440 But for Jeff Post, all the curse stories 617 00:33:28,474 --> 00:33:31,143 are fantasy or simple coincidence. 618 00:33:31,310 --> 00:33:33,312 For 50 years, the Hope diamond 619 00:33:33,345 --> 00:33:36,081 has brought the Smithsonian nothing but good luck 620 00:33:36,115 --> 00:33:38,618 and fascinating scientific puzzles. 621 00:33:38,651 --> 00:33:41,988 For him the real story is buried far deeper, 622 00:33:42,021 --> 00:33:44,957 in the science of its creation. 623 00:33:44,990 --> 00:33:46,625 In fact, in many ways 624 00:33:46,659 --> 00:33:48,370 the more incredible part of the Hope diamond story 625 00:33:48,394 --> 00:33:51,964 is the one that started perhaps two or three billion years ago 626 00:33:51,997 --> 00:33:53,899 deep in the earth's upper mantle. 627 00:33:57,069 --> 00:33:58,504 It's 7:30 pm 628 00:33:58,537 --> 00:34:01,673 at the National Museum of Natural History. 629 00:34:01,707 --> 00:34:06,912 The last members of the public leave, and all goes quiet. 630 00:34:11,250 --> 00:34:14,787 Tonight, Jeff Post will remove the Hope diamond 631 00:34:14,820 --> 00:34:18,390 and subject it to an audacious experiment. 632 00:34:21,293 --> 00:34:22,528 The goal of doing this work 633 00:34:22,561 --> 00:34:26,398 isn't to try to dispel a curse. 634 00:34:26,432 --> 00:34:28,401 The goal is to learn about the Hope diamond 635 00:34:28,434 --> 00:34:31,704 and its history and its origin. 636 00:34:31,737 --> 00:34:35,708 He and his team are about to do the unthinkable... 637 00:34:35,741 --> 00:34:37,576 Drill into the Hope diamond 638 00:34:37,610 --> 00:34:43,182 to extract atoms and unravel its DNA. 639 00:34:43,215 --> 00:34:47,920 They're using a time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometer. 640 00:34:48,020 --> 00:34:50,189 It's an instrument more often used 641 00:34:50,289 --> 00:34:52,124 to test chemical substances, 642 00:34:52,291 --> 00:34:56,328 for example, for traces of steroids. 643 00:34:56,362 --> 00:34:58,264 They're about to open a window 644 00:34:58,364 --> 00:35:01,267 into a world more than a billion years old, 645 00:35:01,300 --> 00:35:05,237 when the diamond was created. 646 00:35:05,271 --> 00:35:07,673 The instrument fires beams of tiny particles 647 00:35:07,706 --> 00:35:09,541 called gallium ions 648 00:35:09,575 --> 00:35:12,411 onto the surface of the Hope diamond. 649 00:35:12,444 --> 00:35:16,048 The ions blast a crater invisible to the naked eye 650 00:35:16,081 --> 00:35:17,816 from which hundreds of millions of atoms 651 00:35:17,850 --> 00:35:19,919 are sucked back into the machine, 652 00:35:20,019 --> 00:35:22,522 where they're sorted by weight and counted. 653 00:35:22,554 --> 00:35:24,056 It sounds a bit destructive 654 00:35:24,089 --> 00:35:26,892 and in fact it is a little bit of a destructive process. 655 00:35:26,926 --> 00:35:28,828 Blasting is perhaps too strong a word, 656 00:35:28,928 --> 00:35:30,430 but it gives you the idea. 657 00:35:30,462 --> 00:35:33,966 It'll be gouging or blasting a small little tiny crater 658 00:35:33,999 --> 00:35:35,367 into the diamond. 659 00:35:35,434 --> 00:35:37,770 It will sort of drill down through the surface 660 00:35:37,803 --> 00:35:40,506 into the next several layers of atoms, 661 00:35:40,539 --> 00:35:42,374 knocking out some of those atoms, 662 00:35:42,474 --> 00:35:45,143 and we will be making a very tiny little hole 663 00:35:45,177 --> 00:35:47,713 in the Hope diamond. 664 00:35:47,746 --> 00:35:51,116 He Hopes to finally reveal exactly what happened 665 00:35:51,150 --> 00:35:54,353 when the Hope diamond was born. 666 00:35:54,386 --> 00:35:56,321 Two months pass. 667 00:35:56,422 --> 00:35:57,790 Hundreds of millions of atoms 668 00:35:57,823 --> 00:36:01,160 have been extracted and analyzed. 669 00:36:01,260 --> 00:36:04,296 This photo, taken under ultraviolet light, 670 00:36:04,330 --> 00:36:07,466 indicates areas where the samples were taken, 671 00:36:07,499 --> 00:36:11,470 but the holes are far too tiny to see with the naked eye. 672 00:36:11,503 --> 00:36:15,407 The presence of boron is just as Jeff Post anticipated, 673 00:36:15,507 --> 00:36:16,942 but the headline result 674 00:36:16,976 --> 00:36:19,412 is that there's only a tiny amount of it, 675 00:36:19,445 --> 00:36:24,283 and the big surprise is that It's not evenly distributed. 676 00:36:24,316 --> 00:36:26,718 Boron makes the Hope diamond blue, 677 00:36:26,752 --> 00:36:28,754 but its uneven distribution 678 00:36:28,787 --> 00:36:32,457 gives a new insight to that blueness. 679 00:36:32,491 --> 00:36:36,161 The Hope diamond probably isn't uniformly blue. 680 00:36:36,261 --> 00:36:37,562 What we're seeing with the eye 681 00:36:37,596 --> 00:36:40,766 is actually a summation of all of the blue, 682 00:36:40,799 --> 00:36:43,035 different shades of blue in the diamond, 683 00:36:43,135 --> 00:36:45,471 sort of a mosaic of blues in a sense, 684 00:36:45,504 --> 00:36:48,507 and that the blue color varies slightly 685 00:36:48,674 --> 00:36:50,242 with the concentration, 686 00:36:50,275 --> 00:36:54,513 the amounts of boron that are present. 687 00:36:54,546 --> 00:36:56,581 But the most significant outcome 688 00:36:56,648 --> 00:36:59,251 is to show that It's the boron atoms... 689 00:36:59,418 --> 00:37:00,686 Acting with the carbon 690 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,388 and another unidentified atom in the diamond... 691 00:37:03,522 --> 00:37:06,558 That are producing the mysterious red glow. 692 00:37:06,592 --> 00:37:10,062 When an ultraviolet light ray passes through the diamond, 693 00:37:10,095 --> 00:37:14,566 it strikes a carbon atom and spins off an electron, 694 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,070 which gets trapped in the unidentified atom. 695 00:37:18,103 --> 00:37:19,571 At the same time, 696 00:37:19,605 --> 00:37:22,808 a positive charge spins off from the carbon atom 697 00:37:22,841 --> 00:37:25,177 and gets trapped in the boron. 698 00:37:25,210 --> 00:37:27,612 Attracted by the positive charge, 699 00:37:27,646 --> 00:37:30,549 the electron jumps to the boron atom. 700 00:37:30,582 --> 00:37:35,687 It's that collision that causes the burst of red light. 701 00:37:35,721 --> 00:37:38,524 This process happens over and over 702 00:37:38,557 --> 00:37:39,858 in the diamond lattice, 703 00:37:39,892 --> 00:37:41,627 and because some boron atoms 704 00:37:41,660 --> 00:37:44,496 are farther away from the unidentified atoms, 705 00:37:44,530 --> 00:37:47,800 the glow continues for up to a minute. 706 00:37:50,002 --> 00:37:51,971 Science has explained 707 00:37:52,004 --> 00:37:54,039 the Hope diamond's inner secrets, 708 00:37:54,073 --> 00:37:58,244 which leaves only the curse. 709 00:37:58,277 --> 00:38:02,414 Back in 1910, Pierre Cartier had told Evalyn Walsh Mclean. 710 00:38:02,448 --> 00:38:04,250 His amazing story... 711 00:38:04,283 --> 00:38:06,485 The explorer who'd stolen the Hope diamond 712 00:38:06,518 --> 00:38:08,553 from the eye of a hindu goddess 713 00:38:08,587 --> 00:38:11,723 and been ripped apart by wild dogs; 714 00:38:11,757 --> 00:38:15,894 the French queen who'd worn it and lost her head; 715 00:38:15,928 --> 00:38:19,665 the family who'd been ruined. 716 00:38:19,698 --> 00:38:23,735 All struck down by the legendary curse. 717 00:38:26,972 --> 00:38:31,243 America's library of congress houses an extensive collection, 718 00:38:31,276 --> 00:38:35,480 which Richard kurin used to research the Hope's curse. 719 00:38:35,514 --> 00:38:36,982 The more he found out, 720 00:38:37,082 --> 00:38:40,953 the more holes he discovered in Cartier's story. 721 00:38:40,986 --> 00:38:44,089 Tavernier wasn't killed by wild dogs. 722 00:38:44,123 --> 00:38:47,159 He died of old age in Russia. 723 00:38:47,192 --> 00:38:49,761 There was no evidence that Marie antoinette 724 00:38:49,795 --> 00:38:52,598 ever even wore the French blue. 725 00:38:52,698 --> 00:38:55,834 You know, when it was sold to the Mcleans, 726 00:38:55,934 --> 00:38:57,869 the New York times on the front page said, 727 00:38:57,903 --> 00:39:00,239 "this is an ancient curse." 728 00:39:00,272 --> 00:39:03,108 As I started to go through the historical records, 729 00:39:03,208 --> 00:39:07,245 I did not find any mention of any curse of the Hope diamond 730 00:39:07,346 --> 00:39:10,783 before the 1900s. 731 00:39:10,816 --> 00:39:13,252 "Remarkable jewel a hoodoo." 732 00:39:13,285 --> 00:39:17,089 "Hope diamond has brought trouble to all who've owned it." 733 00:39:20,826 --> 00:39:22,294 If the curse was real, 734 00:39:22,394 --> 00:39:25,831 its owners could be expected to have lived short lives, 735 00:39:25,864 --> 00:39:28,200 but did they? 736 00:39:28,233 --> 00:39:30,235 Kurin went back through the records 737 00:39:30,269 --> 00:39:33,539 and investigated all their lifespans. 738 00:39:33,572 --> 00:39:35,941 The average life expectancy of people 739 00:39:35,974 --> 00:39:38,310 that have owned the Hope diamond, direct owners, 740 00:39:38,343 --> 00:39:40,412 is about 72 years old. 741 00:39:40,445 --> 00:39:42,681 That is quite a long lifespan, 742 00:39:42,714 --> 00:39:45,417 considering that we're talking about people, you know, 743 00:39:45,450 --> 00:39:48,186 like Tavernier and kings of France 744 00:39:48,220 --> 00:39:54,226 that lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. 745 00:39:54,259 --> 00:39:57,429 You find that actually people that have owned the Hope diamond 746 00:39:57,462 --> 00:39:59,898 lived extraordinarily long lives, 747 00:39:59,998 --> 00:40:02,801 longer than the average. 748 00:40:02,834 --> 00:40:05,570 There could only be one conclusion... 749 00:40:05,604 --> 00:40:07,940 The curse was an invention, 750 00:40:07,973 --> 00:40:10,442 the brainchild of Pierre Cartier, 751 00:40:10,475 --> 00:40:12,711 who fabricated the tallest of tales 752 00:40:12,744 --> 00:40:16,615 to whet Evalyn Walsh Mclean's appetite for the diamond. 753 00:40:18,617 --> 00:40:22,821 Cartier's brilliant sales pitch had created for the Hope diamond 754 00:40:22,854 --> 00:40:25,156 a legendary mystique that elevated it 755 00:40:25,190 --> 00:40:28,694 into one of the world's most valuable artifacts. 756 00:40:34,299 --> 00:40:39,104 It has survived great journeys, dramatic disappearances 757 00:40:39,137 --> 00:40:42,040 and radical re-designs. 758 00:40:42,074 --> 00:40:46,378 And now, It's about to get another. 759 00:40:46,411 --> 00:40:48,780 Harry Winston is putting the finishing touches 760 00:40:48,814 --> 00:40:51,450 on the Hope diamond's new setting. 761 00:40:58,924 --> 00:41:01,894 In order to create a piece of art 762 00:41:01,927 --> 00:41:03,095 that's wearable, 763 00:41:03,128 --> 00:41:06,598 that actually conforms to the wearer's neck, 764 00:41:06,632 --> 00:41:08,167 is always a challenge. 765 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,569 And what we are doing in this case 766 00:41:10,636 --> 00:41:14,240 is we are actually hinging every single setting. 767 00:41:14,339 --> 00:41:18,710 And in order to create this fluid, very feminine design, 768 00:41:18,744 --> 00:41:23,616 in platinum, with 300 stones and 60 carats of diamonds, 769 00:41:23,715 --> 00:41:29,688 It's a tremendous amount of workmanship that goes into it. 770 00:41:29,721 --> 00:41:31,823 We've actually accomplished a necklace 771 00:41:31,857 --> 00:41:34,193 that would normally take about a year to make 772 00:41:34,226 --> 00:41:37,096 within about 8 months. 773 00:41:37,229 --> 00:41:41,300 So for us it was a bit of a labor of love. 774 00:42:08,827 --> 00:42:12,097 David Schwartz and his team bring the completed setting 775 00:42:12,197 --> 00:42:14,466 to the Natural History museum. 776 00:42:14,533 --> 00:42:16,101 The embracing Hope necklace. 777 00:42:16,134 --> 00:42:17,369 Oh, my gosh. Wow. 778 00:42:17,402 --> 00:42:18,770 That is spectacular. 779 00:42:18,804 --> 00:42:20,973 All we need is a diamond in the center there. 780 00:42:21,006 --> 00:42:23,475 Yeah, that's all we need. 781 00:42:23,508 --> 00:42:25,310 It's ready for the Hope. 782 00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:27,188 It does look like it was made for it, doesn't it? 783 00:42:27,212 --> 00:42:29,147 Exactly. 784 00:42:29,181 --> 00:42:31,417 Now the tricky part. 785 00:42:33,251 --> 00:42:34,953 It's been a hundred years 786 00:42:34,986 --> 00:42:38,056 since the Hope diamond was put in a new setting. 787 00:42:50,669 --> 00:42:57,509 One wrong move could damage the world's most valuable gemstone. 788 00:42:57,542 --> 00:43:00,345 But It's in masterful hands. 789 00:43:00,379 --> 00:43:04,884 Pavel bespalko has been crafting jewelry for over 30 years. 790 00:43:09,221 --> 00:43:11,557 One of his secrets is listening to Chopin 791 00:43:11,590 --> 00:43:14,993 to maintain his concentration. 792 00:43:16,661 --> 00:43:19,164 Winston has brought his work bench from New York 793 00:43:19,197 --> 00:43:22,400 to ensure he has everything he needs. 794 00:43:31,042 --> 00:43:32,410 That's it. 795 00:43:36,982 --> 00:43:39,351 A single screw is all it takes 796 00:43:39,384 --> 00:43:44,189 to hold the set diamond in its ribbons of platinum. 797 00:43:44,222 --> 00:43:46,491 I find the design extremely inspiring. 798 00:43:46,525 --> 00:43:48,127 I just personally love it. 799 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,329 You really see there the two hands 800 00:43:50,362 --> 00:43:54,233 of somebody holding the world, holding the rarest gem on earth. 801 00:43:54,266 --> 00:43:55,543 And it is a symbol of generosity 802 00:43:55,567 --> 00:43:58,570 when you put your two hands like that. 803 00:44:01,106 --> 00:44:02,874 To showcase the new setting, 804 00:44:03,041 --> 00:44:05,844 the museum has tapped a hometown girl: 805 00:44:05,877 --> 00:44:08,246 Estee lauder model hilary rhoda. 806 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,249 I'm actually from Chevy chase, Maryland, 807 00:44:10,282 --> 00:44:12,226 and that's why It's also really nice to come back here 808 00:44:12,250 --> 00:44:13,418 and to the Smithsonian 809 00:44:13,452 --> 00:44:17,723 and shoot this amazing diamond on my neck. 810 00:44:17,756 --> 00:44:21,293 It does feel heavy. 811 00:44:21,393 --> 00:44:23,495 I'm feeling very expensive right now. 812 00:44:25,664 --> 00:44:27,966 My mom and I were walking into the museum today 813 00:44:27,999 --> 00:44:30,301 and she's like, "you know It's cursed, right?" 814 00:44:30,335 --> 00:44:31,770 And I was like, "what? No." 815 00:44:31,803 --> 00:44:34,439 I looked it up, and you know, 816 00:44:34,539 --> 00:44:37,242 apparently It's just an urban myth, right? 817 00:44:37,275 --> 00:44:38,476 I'm hoping? 818 00:44:43,815 --> 00:44:45,984 50th anniversary party dress. 819 00:44:46,017 --> 00:44:48,086 Will be on display for a year 820 00:44:48,119 --> 00:44:51,823 before the diamond returns to its historical setting. 821 00:44:55,594 --> 00:44:57,663 We focus a lot on the history of the Hope diamond. 822 00:44:57,829 --> 00:44:59,264 We're thinking about that 823 00:44:59,431 --> 00:45:00,708 as something that's always happened a long time ago, 824 00:45:00,732 --> 00:45:02,000 which in a sense it has, 825 00:45:02,033 --> 00:45:04,469 except tonight is part of history, too. 826 00:45:04,503 --> 00:45:07,072 And the history of the Hope diamond continues. 827 00:45:07,172 --> 00:45:09,474 And as long as people come to see this diamond 828 00:45:09,508 --> 00:45:10,776 or have an interest in it, 829 00:45:10,876 --> 00:45:13,946 whatever happens to it will become part of that story. 830 00:45:20,051 --> 00:45:21,519 It's fun to in a sense 831 00:45:21,553 --> 00:45:23,255 be a part of this moment in its history 832 00:45:23,288 --> 00:45:26,291 and realize that it is something very special. 833 00:45:31,897 --> 00:45:33,599 Her birthstone is the diamond, 834 00:45:33,632 --> 00:45:37,769 and her monogram is H..R.H., 835 00:45:37,802 --> 00:45:40,138 her royal highness, which is, I think, 836 00:45:40,171 --> 00:45:41,706 very fitting, very regal. 837 00:45:41,740 --> 00:45:45,510 This stone carries more than 350 years 838 00:45:45,544 --> 00:45:48,680 of the most incredible history, 839 00:45:48,713 --> 00:45:51,649 and that makes the Hope diamond the rarest gem 840 00:45:51,683 --> 00:45:53,919 and the most mythical stone 841 00:45:53,952 --> 00:45:55,887 on earth.