On this day, Sept. 11, in 1792, the French Blue diamond, eventually cut to be the Hope Diamond, was stolen along with other French crown jewels.
A group of bandits broke into the royal storeroom while King Louis XVI was under lock and key during the early stages of the French Revolution.
The French Blue diamond was a 67-carat stone cut in 1678 at the orders of Louis XIV. The Hope Diamond was cut down to 45.52 carats and currently resides at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History on the National Mall.
The Hope Diamond gained its name when it appeared in the 1839 catalog of Henry Philip Hope’s gem collection.
For the next 100 years, the diamond was passed down through the Hope family and eventually sold to outsiders. The Smithsonian acquired it in 1958.
— Freeman Klopott
