The Deadly Allure: 6 Cursed Jewels That Ruined Everyone Who Touched Them
The Regent. This precious rock also brought a bunch of troubles to its owners. The stone was originally know as the Pitt, and was found in the early 1700’s in India. A slave stole this 410-carat stone by imbedding it into his leg bandages of a self-inflicted leg wound. An English sea captain offered him half of the stone’s value for a safe escape from the country. But the captain didn’t keep his word and murdered the slave. Unfortunately for him, as the legend says, the slave laid a curse on the stone when he was dying. After selling it to a diamond merchant for $5000, the captain reportedly spent all of the money and hanged himself. The Regent diamond is now displayed at the Louvre in Paris.
The Sancy Diamond. This beautiful but cursed pear-shaped diamond caused great grief and danger; it was reportedly stolen in India. Later found in Golconda, it reached Europe in the XIV century and was placed in the crowns of both French and English kings. The legend says, the stone jinxed each of its owners. Many of the kings who wore the diamond suffered terrible deaths. The stone’s curse even reached a lot of people who just came into contact it. A man who was transporting the stone for King Henry IV in his stomach (for safety), was robbed and murdered and the gem was extracted during an autopsy. The diamond itself disappeared and was rediscovered many times through the years. It is now displayed in the Louvre in Paris
The Koh-i-Noor. This diamond, was discovered in a Golconda mine, in India some five thousand years ago. It has a spectacularly blood-curdling history. It reportedly served an eye of an idol of a Hindu goddess and later the emperor who built the Taj Mahal integrated it into his Peacock Throne but soon was imprisoned by his own son. Later, a venetian gemcutter reduced the stone from 800 down to 186 carats.
The stone served many owners in South Asia for several hundred years, bringing them bad luck (death in most cases). In 1849 it appeared in the ownership of Queen Victoria. The interesting thing is, the diamond brought bad luck only to men, women were immune to its affection. The gem was cut down again to 37 carats by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria of England and was subsequently placed in the Queen Mother’s Crown where it still rests today.
There are still battles going on for the gem’s ownership. The Indian Culture Ministry has made huge efforts to arrange the return of the stone to India but to no avail.
