Smithsonian finds Hope and Wittelsbach-Graff diamonds are not from same stone

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 29, 2010; C10

After decades of speculation, the truth can now be told: The famed Hope Diamond and its chief rival, the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond, were not cut from the same stone, according to a group of scientists led by Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, which tested the two storied blue diamonds extensively.

"There is an uncanny resemblance, but they are different," said Post, who announced his team's findings on Thursday at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "They are not part of the same crystal or rough. Perhaps they are distant cousins, but not brothers and sisters."

The pair of diamonds were examined under a variety of microscopes and lights at the Smithsonian last week to try to settle some centuries-old mysteries. Could the two have originally been part of the same diamond? Are they twins? Why do they look so similar to the naked eye?

The opportunity to probe deeply into these questions came about because the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond has been lent to the Smithsonian for a bit more than six months. Starting Friday, the slightly smaller diamond will be displayed in the same hall as the Hope.

A hidden gem

Both scientists and the general public have been anticipating the rare pairing of these two famous stones, because Wittelsbach-Graff has not been on public display for more than 50 years.

"This is the most famous diamond people have never seen," said Post, a tall, outgoing man with an encyclopedic knowledge of minerals and gems. Earlier this week, he gave a reporter a peek at the Wittelsbach-Graff. "Literally, generations have gone by when no one has seen it," Post said of the diamond, which was last shown to the public in 1958.

But now researchers have peered closely into the gem's many facets.

"The tests supported the fact that they are extremely similar, in their color, in the way they phosphoresce. It's amazingly similar," Post said. At the same time, the differences became quickly apparent under a diamond view microscope that showed dislocations, and a light microscope that showed the cross polarizers.

"The detailed pattern is different in the two. The cross polarizer reveals evidence of strain. Under the light you see the pattern and it was very different in the Hope than the Wittelsbach," Post said. "We can't match them up as the same diamond. It is likely that they had a very similar geologic history, but did not come from the same original stone."

Sparkling lineages

Like the Hope, the slightly smaller Wittelsbach-Graff blue diamond has an interesting history connected to famous names of the past.

The Wittelsbach-Graff is 31.06 carats and, like the Hope, boasts a penetrating, though slightly less intense, blue color. (It is two-thirds the size of the Hope, and two-thirds as blue.) The diamond entered into jewelry lore in the 17th century, when it was given by Philip IV of Spain to his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa, upon her engagement to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The diamond ended up with the House of Wittelsbach, a ruling Bavarian family, in 1722.

After World War I, Bavaria became a republic and in 1931 the crown jewels of the Wittelsbach family were sold at auction. Out of sight for a while, the diamond was displayed at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958. Laurence Graff, a London-based jeweler, bought the diamond in 2008 for $24.3 million and is lending it to the Smithsonian through Aug. 1.

It has the same dazzle as the Hope, with similar jets of icy blue sparkles radiating off the facets.

The Hope is 45.52 carats and was given to the museum by Harry Winston in 1958. It had passed through many royal hands, beginning in 1668 when King Louis XIV purchased the stone. It was bought by the Cartier jewelry firm in 1909 and the jeweler sold it to Evalyn Walsh McLean, a prominent Washington hostess, in 1911. The Winston company bought her estate jewels after her death in 1947 and eventually donated the rare diamond to the Smithsonian. Since it was first exhibited in 1958, millions have lined up to see it.

But whether the two originated from the same stone in India, or even the same mine, believed to be the Kollur mine in Golconda, had always been a looming question. "There is a long history of speculation. . . . 'Could they have been cut from the same piece of rough in India?' It is an interesting coincidence that they both surfaced in Europe about the same time," Post said.

One way scientists attempted to answer this question of common origins was by looking at the stones with a shortwave ultraviolet light to see the amount of orange to fiery red phosphorescence they emitted. The Hope, which has been examined over the years, has a lot of these properties. Earlier this week Post carefully placed the Wittelsbach-Graff on a small pillow and held a UV ray light over the visiting diamond. In seconds, it glowed. And, Post said, "one of the big differences is that the Wittelsbach-Graff had a longer phosphorescence."

The Smithsonian treasure trove

The National Museum of Natural History possesses no fewer than 350,000 minerals and 10,000 gems. Last year alone, the National Gem Collection received 20 gems and 600 mineral specimens. Many of the specimens are housed in long file drawers, hidden inside leather and velvet jewelry cases and lined up in department store boxes in a secured room on the upper levels of the museum. Post will show off some of them next week at the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase, one of the largest annual gatherings of enthusiasts in the world, where he hopes to identify rarities that the museum wants and meet new donors.

With the addition of the Wittelsbach-Graff, the Smithsonian will have, if only temporarily, three of the world's best-known blue diamonds. The third is the Blue Heart Diamond, a 30.82-carat stone that was mined in 1908, once owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post and given to the Smithsonian in 1964.

The gem display is refreshed frequently because of the depth of the museum's collection and the constant drive for new acquisitions.

Soon to be displayed publicly is a gift from Coralyn Whitney, a benefactor in Seattle, of a 17-carat alexandrite. "After diamonds, the most inquired-about gem is the alexandrite," Post said. Mined in 1990 in Brazil, this gem interests scientists and gem collectors because it changes colors in different lights. Smithsonian lighting specialists are hard at work on a display that will show how the stone can appear to go from green to a burgundy to a purple color; it should be exhibited in the hall during the spring.

"This is the only case in the hall where the stone actually does something. This will be active," Post promised.

The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond will be on display in the National Gem Collection at the National Museum of Natural History through Aug. 1. Visit http://www.mnh.si.edu or call 202-633-1000 for further information.