Hope Diamond
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The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat blue diamond that has been famed for its great size and blue-violet color since the 17th century. It was extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Andhra
The Hope Diamond in 1974
The Hope Diamond in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., 2014.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier's original sketch of the Tavernier Blue
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
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Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Traveling as a private merchant at his own expense, Tavernier estimated that he travelled 60,000 leagues in six voyages to
Hope Diamond
…size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds. The Hope Diamond's recorded history begins in 1666, when the French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased the raw Golconda stone in India. After cutting the gem and renaming it "the French Blue" (Le bleu de France), Tavernier sold it to King Louis…
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in oriental costume, 1679
An illustration by Tavernier of Indians performing Yoga under a Banyan tree
Church and castle with its minaret-style tower, built in 1680 for Tavernier, at Aubonne, Switzerland