gems, spinel, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, balas ruby, Kuh-i-Lal, Hope Spinel, famous gems

Henry Philip Hope’s collection of gems is best remembered for the superb blue diamond which bears his name, now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This ‘matchless’ diamond was just one of over 750 gems and pearls in the Hope collection when its catalogue was published in 1839. These gems ranged from exceptional specimens to minor ones, even some uncut stones. After Hope’s death and an inevitable drawn-out legal squabble between heirs, eight of the finest gems in the collection came into the possession of Henry Thomas Hope, one of three nephews. One of these gems was the blue ‘Hope’ diamond; another was a large, octagonal red spinel weighing 50.13 ct (1, 2). After passing down through two further generations, the blue diamond was sold in 1901 to pay off gambling debts, whilst the remaining gems in this group were sold at auction in London by Christie’s in 1917. The spinel was bought by a dealer for £1,060, came into the possession of Lady Mount Stephen and then passed down to the latest owner, who recently sold it by auction at Bonhams, London, on 24 September, fetching an incredible £962,500. Prior to auction, the spinel was examined by the SSEF laboratory in Basel, which pronounced it to be from Tajikistan.