The blood-red glow of the supposedly cursed diamond owned by Marie Antoinette will at last yield the gem's secret, scientists will announce today.
The famed Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat deep blue, cut from the French Blue Diamond, part of the French crown jewels worn by Louis XIV.
It is rumoured that the original was stolen from an idol of the Hindu goddess Sita, the supposed source of a curse that is said to have afflicted those who possessed the gem, including Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, who came to a sticky end on the guillotine, and the ill-fated Hope family, who gave their name to the gem cut from the French Blue.
The coal-sized diamond is now part of the Smithsonian Institution's United States Gem Collection in Washington. It has intrigued scientists because it gives off a red glow after it is bathed in ultraviolet light.
Today, the journal Geology reports that researchers from the Smithsonian, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Penn State University believe the eerie glow can help them to "fingerprint" blue diamonds. The tests could help to identify other stones from the same source to shed light on the Hindu idol in the curse.
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