A service provider as soon as contemplated that query. However it wasn’t simply any jeweler transport any valuable stone to any previous group. It concerned America’s foremost jeweler on the time, essentially the most well-known gem on the earth, and America’s most celebrated museum.

And the way he wound up sending it would amaze you.

To understand this story, you will need to first perceive the gamers concerned.

Harry Winston was the American Dream come true. Son of struggling Jewish immigrants from Russia, at age 12 one thing caught his eye in a neighborhood pawnshop. The boy acknowledged it as a 2-carat emerald and plopped down 1 / 4 to pay for it. Two days later, he bought it for $800 (almost $25,000 immediately).

No shock then that he had his personal jewellery store at age 24. He made his title in 1926 by shopping for Arabella Huntington’s fabulous assortment of a number of the world’s most lovely jewels. Her husband was a railroad magnate, and she or he spent an enormous chunk of his fortune on fairly issues that sparkled and glittered.

Harry H. Winston Jewels opened in New York in 1932, changing into merely Harry Winston Inc. in 1936. It stays the gold normal for purveyors of valuable stones.

In 1949, Harry cemented his fame by getting maintain of the Massive Kahuna, essentially the most legendary jewel of all of them: The Hope Diamond.

That 45.52-carat blue stunner had dazzled and delighted people for 4 centuries. Unearthed in India within the 1600s, it was minimize down from its authentic mammoth measurement into the piece we all know immediately and gained a brand new nickname, the “French Blue.” It additionally acquired a fame for unhealthy luck.

Actually unhealthy luck, in reality. Contemplate the excessive physique depend left in its wake.

An early proprietor was King Louis 14th of France who, should you keep in mind your highschool historical past, wound up on a date with Madame Guillotine. A 1911 New York Instances article about individuals who got here involved with it was a rogue’s gallery of murders, suicides and different less-than-savory endings.

The Hope banking household owned it for some time, which was the way it got here to be tagged with the title we all know immediately. Lord Henry Thomas Hope was in debt as much as his chin, so in 1902 he bought it to a New York agency for a then-staggering $148,000. That was the way it wound up on this facet of the Atlantic.

It will definitely settled within the arms of preeminent Washington socialite Evelyn Walsh McLean, who let her mates Warren G. and Florence Harding attempt it on. Harding later unexpectedly died in a San Francisco lodge room in 1923.

The diamond got here to be thought-about cursed. Although analysis later solid severe doubt in regards to the validity of the various terrible endings related to it, the lurid tales solely added to its mystique. Its ill-fated fame nonetheless lingers.

Harry Winston bought the fabled stone in 1949 (at which era it appears folks round it out of the blue stopped dropping useless). It’s not recognized what the acquisition worth was, however you may guess it didn’t come low cost.

Proudly owning the crown jewel of all jewels was a serious feather in Harry’s cap. He proudly toured it round the USA for 9 years (selling Harry Winston Inc. on the similar time).

In 1958, Harry did one thing spectacular. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Establishment, which was solely too delighted so as to add it to its magnificent assortment.

Which brings us again to the query posed initially. How do you progress such a valuable merchandise from New York to Washington?

You mail it, in fact.

No, actually. It occurred.

On Nov. 8, 1958, essentially the most well-known jewel on the earth was put right into a typical manila mailing envelope. To it was affixed labels exhibiting a complete of $145.29 for registered first-class supply to D.C. Curiously, solely $2.44 was for the precise postage; the remainder coated insurance coverage for $1 million (greater than $10.2 million immediately, a mere fraction of its value).

Why go postal? On the time, the publish workplace was thought-about the most secure supply for delivering valuables. And there was an additional advantage. Tampering with the mail is a federal offense, that means had it been stolen en route the FBI would have been tasked with discovering it. No non-public safety agency might match J. Edgar Hoover’s G-men.

The Hope Diamond arrived safely and went on show, the place it nonetheless delights 1000’s of Smithsonian guests yearly.

Presumably with out bringing unhealthy luck house with them, too.

J. Mark Powell is a novelist, former tv journalist and diehard historical past buff. Have a historic thriller that wants fixing? A forgotten second value remembering? Ship it to [email protected].