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Image courtesy timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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System ID: jl-3a004cc9164f26fe4ac4857a9b2b7e83
Title: In 1958, jeweller Harry Winston donated the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian museum and sent it through the US mail in a plain brown package, paying postage and insurance of about $145
Link: Original article on timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Region: global
Topics: smithsonian; postal; diamonds; sent; diamond; postage; unusual; mail; stone; paying; plain; museum; royal; jeweller; package; hope; history; national; winston
Datetime:
Summary: But that is precisely how one of the world's most famous diamonds reached the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Rather than arranging an elaborate security operation, American jeweller Harry Winston entrusted the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond to the US postal service, sending it from New York to Washington, DC, through registered mail. According to records from the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum and Smithsonian Institution Archives, the shipment cost $145.29, including insurance covering the diamond's estimated $1 million value. The package contained a gemstone with a history spanning centuries, royal ownership, extraordinary wealth and persistent rumours of a curse. Jeweller Harry Winston acquired the diamond from McLean's estate in 1949, several years after her death....