Tavernier/Hope diamond :TV program tonight

[Allen W Thrasher]

The Washington Post today (Thursday, February 10, 2005), p. C5 has an
article on a Discovery Channel program to appear tonight at 9:00 PM
Eastern Time and to repeat tomorrow and Sunday.  It is on a computer
simulation that seems to show that the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian
Institution is cut from the French Blue that was offered for sale in
London in 1792, and that the French Blue was cut from the Tavernier
Blue, the recut form of a jewel acquired in India by the jewel
merchant-traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and sold by him to Louis XIV.
The computer showed that certain sides of each gem fit perfectly with
others in the older, larger one, so that the current shape of the Hope
diamond could be explained completely.  It also showed that the pieces
removed were not large enough to allow for there being any other large
blue diamonds derived from the Tavernier.

Allen



Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Senior Reference Librarian
Southern Asia Section
Asian Division
Library of Congress
Jefferson Building 150
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4810
tel. 202-707-3732
fax 202-707-1724
athr at loc.gov
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