Hope Diamond : is described as being “torn from the brow of a temple god and cut into the world’s most valuable gem, the Hope Diamond bewitched kings and was at the heart of the French Revolution. But it also brought tragedy and death to those who owned it….”The Hope Diamond is believed to have come from the Kollur mine near Golconda in India. It first came to attention in the 1660’s when a French explorer Tavernier noticed the then 112 carats of golf ball shaped blue stone, gleaming on the forehead of a temple idol. At that point in time it was roughly three times the size that it is today. Tavernier took the diamond back to France where in 1669 he sold it to Louis XIV for the modern day equivalent of £71 million.
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