 Starting this month, two of the world’s most celebrated blue diamonds will be on display together at the Smithsonian. The 31.06 carat Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond will join the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History starting on January 29. the museum announced this past Monday. This will be the first time in over half a century that the Wittelsbach Diamond has been on public display. It will remain on display at the museum until August 1, 2010. Both diamonds were discovered in the 17th century, and they may share a collective history. Scientists are planning tests to determine if the gems came from the same mine – specifically, the mine in India where the Hope Diamond is known to have come from. The Wittelsbach Diamond was first reported in the 1660s, when Philip IV of Spain gave it to his daughter - who was to marry Emperor Leopold I of Austria.
In 1722 it became the property of the Wittelsbachs - the ruling family of Bavaria. After World War I it disappeared until it resurfaced in Belgium in 1951. Last year it was acquired by jeweler Laurence Graff, chairman of Graff Diamonds International Ltd, during an auction by Christie’s in London. “To have two of the world's most historical stones — the Wittelsbach-Graff and the Hope Diamond — displayed together, is a testament to the stones' history and importance,” Graff said in a statement. “I believe the diamond's appearance at the Smithsonian will represent another significant chapter in its remarkable history.”
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