I live in the DC area and I went to the Smithsonian Institute this weekend to see the Hope Diamond since attendence is way down since the terrorist attacks and I wouldn’t have to wrangle for a position to look at it. My mother says that when she lived in Baltimore (about 20 years ago) she would go on her day off to see the Hope Diamond until she read an article in some paper that the Hope Diamond in the case was fake and the real one was off somewhere being studied. Anayways, looking at the Hope Diamond this weekend, I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was just a giant cubic zirconia. Does anyone know if the real one is on disply or now?
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/minsci/images/gallery/3.htm
Just a link to the object in question for eye candy
purposes.
Well, here’s the Smithsonian’s fact sheet on the Hope Diamond. Clearly, they are claiming that the blue rock on public display is the Real Thing. So, if the one on display is really a fake, then you can hardly expect any of us to have knowledge of that, can you? Anybody who revealed the truth would probably be visited by one of the Smithsonian’s dreaded Secret Assassination Squads.
Oh, yeah–and if they sent it through the mail, I don’t think they’d balk at publicly displaying it in some no-doubt high-tech display case.
[sub][sup]The poster known as MEBuckner has not been replaced by a Smithsonian Institution replicant. The Hope Diamond is real. How about a nice subscription to Smithsonian magazine?[/sup][/sub]
Why someone would want to study the Hope Diamond is beyond me. I’ll grant it’s somewhat unique for its size and history but it is still just a diamond with which scientists are quite familiar.
I have no idea if the diamond on display is the real one or not. I will say that some wealthy people will have mock jewelry made of their real jewelry and then lock away the real stuff. Since they own the real stuff presumably they can still strut around while wearing the fake stuff AND feel secure that getting ripped off isn’t a big deal. Perhaps the Smithsonian does something similar so thereal diamond is safe.
One other thing. It has been ages since I saw the Hope Diamond but I know from Tiffany store windows in Chicago that you’d have an easier time going through a brick wall than breaking the glass of their windows to get what’s displayed inside (I have seen demonstartions where SWAT teams used every weapon in their arsenal and a sledgehammer on glass like this and could not get through…it cracked but held together). In additon I have heard what you see in the window is a reflection put their by a clever arrangement of mirrors so even if you did manage to break the window you wouldn’t be much closer to the goods (i.e. you’d have to go through a second similar window to get the jewels down below window level).
I mention all of this because I would suppose the Smithsonian could arrange appropriate security around the stone not to mention the security you’d have to pass as you ran out of the building. I would think the real thing could be displayed without too much worry of theft.
An expert doesn’t need a loupe to tell a diamond from paste.
A secret like that wouldn’t be kept even one day.
I saw a piece on the Hope Diamond on History’s Mysteries, I think it was-and they explained how the new display is set up-the Hope is encased in a thick glass booth, with all the lighting around it. If someone were to breech the case, the diamond immediately drops down into a locked, extremely secure and thick safe.
I have no clue why they would want to study it, but while they were, the diamond was replaced with a fake one. The Hope Diamond has a new case now that rotates as opposed to the one that was in the wall in the Winston Collection room at the Smithsonian. Upon seeing it this weekend, I just felt it didn’t sparkle like a diamond, but I am far from an expert although diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Also, the diamond had a huge fingerprint on the top of it, you would think that they would clean it before displaying it.
Mostly because of the controversy, and also the theory that it was once part of the Crown Jewels of France.
I don’t know for sure about the Hope Diamond, I’ll leave that to those wiser than me.
However, I do know for a fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls on display in Jerusalem in the Shrine of the Book are merely copies. The funny bit about this is that the entire museum (which is shaped like an enormous nipple–er, Hershey’s Kiss) is rigged to descend (IIRC) 150 metres into the ground in case of war.
For the doubters amongst you, my information was given to me by a colleague of my mother’s, who is the curator of the Shrine.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
I vaguely recall something about the hope diamond flourescing at a particular color (possibly uniquely so)? Perhaps this was what was being studied?
Lots of diamonds flouresce. After I proposed to my wife we took here diamond in for appraising (for insurance…I sure knew what it cost already). One of the things the appraiser did was put the ring in a box with special lights that he had for the purpose. Sure enough some (but not all) of the diamonds fluoresced. He did this part mostly for identification purposes should the ring be stolen and then recovered. He said fluorescing diamonds vs. non-fluorescing diamonds makes no difference as to their value.
You realize, don’t you, the the mere existence of the Smithsonian’s SAS organization is Top Secret? They’ve probably already logged your IP, hacked your ISP’s customer database, and pinpointed your exact real-world location.
Nice knowing you, MEBuckner.
Thank you, WAM. I always thought that was a mirror on Michigan Avenue. My ex-girlfriend kept saying it was just a window. Now I’ll have to hunt her down and point out another thing she was wrong about. 
It won’t stop the Pink Panther
And Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is dead! :eek:
With respect to flourescing, I did some poking around and found this:
“While you are there, make sure to visit the famous Hope Diamond, which owes some of its legendary curse to the fact that it fluoresces an extremely unusual red, which is only known to happen in blue diamonds.”
(from http://www.romandeleon.com/fluorescence.cfm)
Curiously enough, the article states that flourescence may actually detract from the value of the diamond.
“There is a perceived rarity for diamonds of fine color without fluorescence.”
You didn’t read far enough. In the same article you linked it says:
So, officially, fluorescence shouldn’t ,atter inthe cost of a diamond. Of course, that doesn’t mean that some retailers might not try and use that as a selling point and demand a higher price but technically they shouldn’t.
If I am reading the article right it seems that the loss in value is perceived because a diamond with high fluoescence may appear hazy in certain light conditions and may therefore be downgraded in its value as a result (it loses points on clarity). Presumably a competent appraiser is aware of this issue and would take measures to account for this effect.
Well maybe they should, at the Smithsonian, display the Hope diamond in a dark case so we can see it glow. Wouldn’t that prove that it was real and not paste?