# Hope Diamond was mailed to the Smithsonian **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482 "2020-02-04T16:41:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/21 "2020-02-10T02:13:43Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Oh man I’ve had “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show“ stuck in my head for the last day or so, so I read the title as “NEIL Diamond was mailed to the Smithsonian!” Hope Diamond was his paternal grandmother. She didn’t survive the trip. They forgot to poke air holes in her crate. He had lived with her and was left alone, hence SOLITARY MAN. I read this online somewhere so it must be true. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/22 "2020-02-12T08:57:24Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Dunno about super expensive, but the number of packets of passport applications and naturalization paperwork I have seen burst open and scattered in, around, and under the machinery at my plant is nothing short of heart-rending. > > I should probably grow a thicker skin and trust the professionalism and expertise of the folks who carry out NIXIE operations. > [@gkster](#): > > Oh no! I have to mail in my passport renewal application in a few months and was worried already before reading this. Don’t cheap out on the envelope, and make sure it’s securely sealed. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/23 "2020-02-12T13:02:45Z")
Slightly off topic, but still relevant. A number of years ago I managed a project at the Post Office in the UK, introducing automated mailing machines which would weight your item and sell you a “stamp”. Doing research for what sort of products people would consider using such a machine for, we found an odd spike in the amount of Special Delivery mail coming from some very specific, small areas in London. Special Delivery is a highly-secure mail service offered in the UK, which is largely separate from ordinary mail to ensure that security, and consequently the Royal Mail will issue insurance for mail sent via Special Delivery, for a fee. You can specify a service to arrive by 9am the next morning, or just “next day”. Upon enquiry, the areas with the extraordinarily high use of Special Delivery in London were around Hatton Garden, traditionally the jewelry and diamond-trading center. Diamonds are eminently portable and Special Delivery very secure. Gem merchants had figured out it was cheaper to box their stock and mail it to themselves by 9am Special Delivery, than to insure their own premises and store the rocks overnight. Very clever indeed. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/24 "2020-02-12T13:22:11Z")
Many years ago, during the blockade, I sent a few packages from the US to Cuba. They always arrived. One postal clerk mentioned that he had never mailed a package to Cuba. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/25 "2020-02-15T01:46:49Z")
IIRC a bank building in Wyoming was built of bricks mailed by parcel post because it was cheaper than freight charges. The post office changed their rules after that. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482/26 "2020-02-15T04:55:22Z")
When I left Ethiopia, I had some local money left over, so I mailed it to my family-run hotel as a tip, with an extra usd-5 in there. A month later I get a plastic postal bag marked “no such address”. In the bag was my envelope, slit open on three sides dangling by a flap. And a couple hundred birr and five bucks, intact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hope-diamond-was-mailed-to-the-smithsonian/847482.md?page=1)