Hello everyone whats gucci! Hope youre having an awesome day wherever and whenever youre
watching this! Im your host Ayman Hasan and welcome back to another video here at most
amazing top 10. The size of the gemstones in this video are shocking in and of themselves.
I cant even comprehend how they would be worn as jewelry. Like any pair of earrings or necklace
made with them with either rip my ear lobes right off or weigh my neck down considerably.
But anyway thats more of a gruesome consequences, most of these jewels didnt come ready to rip
ear lobes off but they did come cursed and all. And the stories are pretty interesting
if i do say so myself so without further ado this is the Top 10 Scary
Cursed Jewels.
Starting us off with number 10 is the Black Prince’s Ruby. If youve seen
any of the English coronations then you have seen this gem. Its smack dab in the middle
of Englands Imperial State Crown but its not actually a ruby its a red spinel (spin-el).
Also dubbed The Great Imposter it has had quite a bloody history. It belonged to the
Sultan of Granada initially and was found near his corpse by Pedro the Cruel after him
and his men stabbed him to death. After obtaining it Pedros reign was challenged by his half
brother who appealed to Edward the Black Prince for help. They won and Edward was given the
stone as a thanks. Around that time he contracted a disease and died from it 9 years later.
Henry V was wearing the stone during the Battle of Agincourt where he nearly died and Richard
III was wearing it when he died during the Battle of Bosworth. It was later sold to a
jeweler in the 17th century and the curse continued by nearly destroying the jewelers
with a mysterious fire. Thankfully the jewel hasnt done any damage since but I think its
done enough damage to last a lifetime.
Coming in at number 9 is The Hope Diamond. Honestly this diamond is probably worth than
my whole life and im not even mad about it. This gem is one of the most famous jewels
in the world, the earliest ownership records date back nearly 4 centuries. It weighs a
hefty 45.5 carats, is a dark grayish blue colour and is apparently cursed. It was first
bought in India in 1668 by Jean Baptiste Tavernier. The gem was initially called the French Blue.
JP sold it to King Louis the 14th but it was stolen towards the end of 1792. A diamond
of similar proportions was found in the possession of London based diamond merchant Daniel Eliason
in 1812 but by that point it was renamed to the Hope Diamond. It passed through King George
the 4ths hands and then landed in Henry Phillip Hopes hands. In 1909 it was sold to Pierre
Cartier and then it was sold to socialite and heiress Evalyn Walsh Mclean. Its curse
was massively uplayed. She used to have Find the Hope parties where shed hide it around
her house and guests would have to find it. Someone couldve easily stolen in like easily.
But anyway things started going downhill quickly. Her son was killed in a car accident, her
husband ran off with someone else whilst destroying their fortune and then died in a sanitarium.
Her daughter ODed on sleeping pills, her family newspaper The Washington Post went bankrupt
and then a year later she killed herself. Wow that was a lot.
At number 8 we have The Koh-i-Noor Diamond. Can we just have a moment of silence for the
fact i will probably never see a diamond of this size. Thank you. This 186 carat diamond
had a curse that only affected men. Hindu descriptions of the diamond said ‘he who
owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God
or woman can wear it with impunity.” the name is persian for Mountain of Light and
it went through many hands in its time. The emperor who built the Taj Mahal had it but
his son imprisoned him in a fort after a coup. Apparently it was initially close to 800 carats
but a Venetian gemcutter reduced it to 186. It was in the hands of many local rulers almost
all of which met with bloody deaths. Finally in 1849 a treaty was signed and the stone
was given to Queen Victoria. But the story doesnt end there. On its journey to England
there was an outbreak of cholera on board so locals in Mauritius threatened the crew
and told them to leave the port or theyd attack. A storm then occurred lasting 12 hours and
then finally finally it somehow made it to the royals. As a result of the curse, no male
heir has ever worn it.
Filling our number 7 slot is the Blue Diamond Affair. Now we have no idea where this diamond
is and we also have no idea if it ever truly existed to begin with. Back in 1989 a Thai
janitor working at the Saudi royal family's palace snuck into Prince Faisal bin Fahds
room and stole a lot of jewelry. A lot. Royal family? Probably gonna have a lot of jewelry.
He hid the jewelry inside the bag of his vacuum cleaner and then smuggled them to Thailand.
Amongst the stolen gems was you guessed it the Blue Diamond. However heres where it gets
tricky. According to Thai authorities the diamond never existed. They arrested the janitor
but not before he had sold a lot of the jewels. He was put in prison but released after 3
years and most of the jewels given back to the Saudi royal family were fake. And the
blue diamond was still nowhere to be found. After that a slew of disappearances and murders
of Saudi businessmen and diplomats who had gone to Bangkok to investigate the robbery
raised major alarms. Thai authorities insisted however the events were not linked. In 1995
the police officer in charge of the case was sentenced to death for ordering the murder
of the janitors wife and son for making the fake jewels. Thats harsh i mean the kid was
only 14. Either way the diamond is meant to curse anyone who handles it illegally and
so far thats been everyone who has handled it.
Now at number 6 is the Delhi Purple Sapphire. Okay first things first its not a sapphire
its an amethyst (a-ma-thist) and it currently resides in Londons Natural History Museum
and it has done since 1944. The gem came mounted on a ring in the form of a snake and it was
accompanied by a letter which said the stone was ’looted from the treasure of the Temple
of the God Indra at Cawnpore during the Indian mutiny in 1855 and brought to this country
by Colonel W. Ferris of the Bengal Cavalry. From the day he possessed it he was unfortunate’.
Colonel Ferris died after he got the gem, it was given to his son then to a man called
Edward Heron Allen who gave it to a bunch of his friends who he said suffered from a
trail of suicides, apparitions, disasters and failed careers." Allen eventually got
it back and decided to close it inside 7 boxes and give it to his bank saying it shouldnt
be taken out until 33 years after his death. Well his daughter waited less than a year
before taking it out and donating it to the museum. And theyve continued to ignore the
letters suggestion that the gem should be cast into the sea. And they havent been screwed
over yet so so far so good i guess.
Coming in at number 5 is La Peregrina Pearl. This one weighed in at 50.6 carats and was
actually one of the biggest pearls in the world. The name means the wonderer and it
was found in the Gulf of Panama during the 16th century. King Phillip II gave it to Queen
Mary I before their marriage but he left her after she could not give him a son. And she
went on to become Bloody Mary so thats already one victim gone rogue. The pearl was given
back to King Phillip after Mary died and he proposed to her half sister Elizabeth. It
stayed in that family till the 19th century when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded and took the
pearl. It went through the Bonaparte family for ages before being sold. It was then auctioned
in 1969 to Richard Burton who gave it to his wife Elizabeth Taylor not sure if youve heard
of her. Probably not. She was just a smalltime actress. But anyway the couple married and
then got divorced twice after which Elizabeth kept the pearl and married 8 more times. Either
way it was dubbed the tempestuous token of love because no romantic relationship has
ended well where the pearl is concerned.
At number 4 is The Star of India. Ive never actually seen a gem like this. Its a pale
blue oval with a white star all over it and it weighs 563.35 carats. Its one of the biggest
gems in the world and it actually has a star on both sides of it. It was initially mined
in Sri Lanka and then donated to the American Museum of Natural History. However towards
the end of 1964 it was stolen alongside a bunch of other gems. The thieves unlocked
a bathroom window all during open hours, went in at night and got the sapphire. It was the
only one in the collection protected by an alarm but against all odds the batteries of
the alarm were dead and no guard was assigned to that room. So the robbery was foolproof.
Fortunately most of the jewels were recovered from a bus terminal locker but a curse surrounded
the gem ever since.
Filling our number 3 slot is The Sancy Diamond. This one is a pale yellow gem weighing in
at 55.2 carats. Again massive. May as well be as big as my head. No im kidding. But anyway
its said that whoever has the gem will succumb to a violent violent death. While others say
it makes you invincible if procured under honest circumstances which is fair enough.
It reached Europe from India in the 14th century where it was placed in the crowns of many
kings. Charles the Bold, Frances Louis the 16th and Englands Charles the first. But they
all suffered horrible deaths after coming into the gem. One legend associated with the
diamond was especially gruesome. A courier was transporting the gem for Henry the 4th
when he was robbed and murdered. The stone had to be retrieved from his stomach because
he had swallowed it for safekeeping. It was later stolen during the French Revolution
but somehow found and is now on display at the Louvre. Wow they really shouldnt have
been playing hot potato with this diamond but then again maybe it was knowingly passed
on and used to cause harm. Could happen.
Now at number 2 is The Regent. This story is also particularly gruesome so lets dive
into it. This one was also mined in India in the early 1700s as most of these gems seemed
to have been. It was stolen from the mine by a slave who actually hid the gem in a self
inflicted wound on his leg. Desperate times man desperate times. He struck up a deal with
an English sea captain to smuggle the gem out of India but on the day the captain drowned
him and sold the jewel himself. But before he died its said the slave put a curse on
the gem and i mean rightfully so. He didnt just self inflict a wound for storage to then
be drowned for that same gem. The disrespect. An English governor called Thomas Pitt ended
up buying the diamond and sold it to French Regent Philippe II of Orleans hence the name
The Regent. It was stolen during the French Revolution with the Sancy but was then found.
But then Napoleon I set it in the handle of his sword and died an untimely death. This
one was just wrong and screwed up from the beginning. Like nothing about this story was
good. Nothing.
And finally at number 1 is The Black Orlov. This ones juicy im not gonna lie. Weighing
in at 67.5 carats, it was said to have initially been the eye of an idol of the god Brahma
at a shrine near Pondicherry. It was then stolen by a monk which is said to have kickstarted
its curse. In 1932 a diamond dealer called J W Paris took the gem to the US and soon
after committed suicide by jumping off a skyscraper. It later belonged to 2 Russian Princesses
Nadia Orlov and Leonila Bariatinsky both of whom committed suicide by jumping to their
death in the 40s. After the string of tragedies attached to it Charles F Winson cut the stone
into 3 pieces in an attempt to break the curse. Whether the curse was broken or not is unclear
but the story gets shadier. Diamond scholar Ian Balfour said theres no evidence of any
black diamonds found in India or even a Russian princess named Nadia Orlov. I mean maybe she
was a more lowkey princess. Like not a big deal just a smalltime princess. Who knows.
And thats it for todays video guys! I feel like weve all collectively learnt about how
bad it can be to have a huge ass gemstone like that on your bearing. I mean everyone
on this list was just taking L after L if im honest and im glad i wasnt one of them.
Let me know which story was your favourite in the comments below and as always I’m
your host Ayman Hasan and ill see you in the next one. Byee.