Hope Diamond was sent via registered mail in 1958
American jeweller Harry Winston sent the 45.52-carat gemstone to the Smithsonian Institution in a plain brown package.
American jeweller Harry Winston sent the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 using the US postal service. According to the Times of India, the gemstone was sent from New York to Washington, DC, through registered mail in a plain brown package.
The shipment cost $145.29, which included insurance for the diamond's estimated $1 million value, according to records from the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum and Smithsonian Institution Archives.
The diamond's history traces back to India, where it was discovered before 1668. It was later purchased by King Louis XIV and entered the French royal collection as the French Blue, weighing approximately 112 carats at the time.
After the French Revolution, the stone resurfaced in London in the early 19th century and was recut. By 1830, it was owned by British banker Henry Philip Hope.
Winston purchased the diamond from the estate of American socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1949. He donated the stone to the Smithsonian nearly ten years later to assist in building a national collection of gemstones.
The 45.52-carat stone is recognised as the largest known fancy deep-blue diamond. It is currently on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.