Feature Gems & Gemology, Spring 2010, Vol. 46, No. 1

Possible “Sister” Stones of the Hope Diamond

Scott D. Sucher, Stephen W. Attaway, Nancy L. Attaway, and Jeffrey E. Post

Download PDF
For more than a century, historians have debated the existence of “sister” stones to the Hope diamond, most notably the Brunswick Blue and the Pirie diamonds. The recent discovery of a lead cast of the French Blue, the Hope’s precursor, has provided a more accurate model of that diamond, which disappeared in 1792.Computer models of the French Blue and its parent stone, the Tavernier Blue, were used to determine whether other diamonds might have been created when the Tavernier Blue was cut into the French Blue, or when the latter was cut into the Hope. The results show that it was not feasible for other significant diamonds to have been created during any recutting.