Raven’s Hope, Larry Vienneau Etching, 5 inch x 7 inch,

Raven’s Hope, Larry Vienneau
Etching, 5 inch x 7 inch,

Like the "curse of Tutankhamun” legends, the Hope Diamond's "cursed origin" adds mystique to the gem. It fueled the theory that any human possessing the gemstone was fated to have a bad fortune. It started in 1642 when Jean Baptiste Tavernier was approached in India by a “Man in Black who had a very secretive manner about him”. He bought the diamond and sent it to Europe. The Man in Black was Raven. He stole the diamond knowing it was cursed. He also enjoyed tormenting humans, especially greedy ones.

Hope and Raven’s victims:
1. Jean Tavernier was ravaged by wolves.
2. King Louis XIV bought the stone from Tavernier. King Louis died of gangrene and all but one of his legitimate children died in childhood,
3. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded after the French Revolution
4. Marie-Louise, Princess de Lamballe was torn to pieces by a mob.
5. Wilhelm Fals was a Dutch jeweler who recut the diamond. His son ended up murdering him and then killing himself.
6. Simon Maoncharides owned the diamond. He drove his car over a cliff and killed himself, his wife, and his child.
7. Prince Ivan Kanitovski was later killed by Russian revolutionists.
8. Simon Mencharides, was thrown from a cliff along with his wife and young child.
9. Evalyn Walsh McLean’s mother-in-law died, her son died at the age of nine, her husband left her for another woman, and her daughter died of a drug overdose Evalyn’s surviving kids sold the diamond to Harry Winston, who mailed the gem to the Smithsonian for $2.44 in postage and $155 in insurance!!
10. James Todd, the mailman who delivered the diamond to the Smithsonian, had his leg crushed in a truck accident shortly thereafter. He also suffered a head injury in a separate accident. Oh yeah, his house burned down.

Since it has been displayed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. the Hope Diamond has been very well-behaved.