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
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
Tavernier's original sketch of the Tavernier Blue diamond
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
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
…Diamond Curse" repeats a persistent myth that Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs because of the curse of a blue diamond (subsequently called the Hope Diamond) he had allegedly acquired through deception and murder. For the 400th anniversary of Tavernier's birth in 2005, the Swiss filmmaker Philippe Nicolet…
The Hope Diamond in 1974
The Hope Diamond in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., 2014.