Page "Hope Diamond" Paragraph 40

Smithsonian mineralogist George Switzer is credited with persuading Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for a proposed national gem collection to be housed at the museum.

On November 10, 1958, Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, where it became Specimen # 217868, sending it through U. S. Mail in a box wrapped in brown paper, insured via registered mail at a cost of $ 145. 29.

Winston had never believed in any of the tales about the curse ; he donated the diamond with the hope that it would help the United States " establish a gem collection.

" Winston died many years later, in 1978, of a heart attack.

Winston's gift, according to Smithsonian curator Dr. Jeffrey Port, helped spur additional gifts to the museum.