History's Most Cursed Gems

Most people buy precious or semi-precious stones at some point in their lives, whether it's for themselves or for a loved one. There's something neat about pretty rocks, and humans have thought so for a long time.

According to London antiquities dealers Ancient & Oriental, the Ancient Egyptians were huge fans of jewelry, and preferred stones like lapis lazuli and carnelian. Emeralds, sapphires, and rubies moved along the Silk Road, and in the ancient world, it was more about meaning and symbolism than anything else. Purple amethysts were associated with Dionysus, god of wine, while the deep red garnet was symbolic of the pomegranate seed of Persephone.

Given our close connection with some of the world's most distinctive gemstones, it's not entirely surprising that some of the biggest and most beautiful examples have been passed down through generations, usually of the rich and famous. Some, though, seem to bring more than just bling: some, it's said, bring along a curse. Are these stories just coincidence... or something more?

Most will be familiar with the Black Prince's Ruby, even if the name's not familiar: it's the big red stone on Britain's Imperial State Crown. And The Arkenstone says that it's cursed, way back to 1362. That's when Abu Said, the Sultan of Granada, arranged to meet with King Pedro the Cruel of Castile. Castile had been marching through Granada and picking away at their territory, and Abu Said was hoping for peace. What he found was murder.

King Pedro killed the Sultan and his retinue, then plucked the stone off the sultan's body. Fast forward a bit: King Pedro's next conflict was with his own brother, and in that fight, he called on the help of England's Edward, the Black Prince. As thanks, he gave him the ruby. 

Edward died a slow death, and others who inherited the stone would also die badly. Richard II was murdered, King Henry IV died slowly, the Tudors had disaster after disaster. Then Mary, Queen of Scots was executed (via Historic UK), and so was Charles I. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, the stone ended up as the centerpiece of the new Imperial State Crown, and it's now in the Tower of London. Is that a way of keeping the stone pacified? 

There's two diamonds that bear the name "Orlov": the Black and the White. According to legend, the White was stolen from the statue of an unnamed deity standing in a temple in southern India, and eventually found its way into the hands of Catherine the Great. She didn't return the affections of the man who gave it to her, but she did keep the diamond, thank you very much.

Adiamor says that it's the Black Orlov that's got a bit more of the curse about it, a stone that was supposedly stolen from a statue of Brahma in a Pondicherry temple. To add insult to injury, it was a monk who stole it.

Gem Select says this one, too, ended up in Russia, where it belonged to the Princess Nadia Vygin-Orlov. She reportedly fled Russia during the revolution, and ultimately committed suicide in 1947. Oddly, the story also says that by this time, the stone had passed out of her possession: in 1932 a diamond dealer had brought it to the US. He sold the diamond and, about a week later, leapt from the top of a skyscraper in Manhattan. The Black Orlov was linked to one more suicide, that of Princess Leonilla Viktorovna-Bariatinsky. She, too, had previously owned the stone. Or... did they? Some suggest that there never was a Russian princess named Nadia Vygin-Orlov, and that Leonilla died of natural causes and extreme old age.

In 1849, a British viceroy wrote (via the Independent): "My motive was simply this: That it was more for the honour of the Queen that the Koh-i-Noor should be surrendered directly from the hand of the conquered prince into the hands of the sovereign who was his conqueror, than it should be presented to her as a gift."

Ouch. The stone in question — the Koh-i-Noor Diamond — would ultimately be set into that fancy hat that's been worn by female British rulers. And that "female" part is important: the gemstone, which was mined somewhere around the year 1100, was clearly cursed by 1306. That's when it was mentioned in a Hindu text that said: "Only God or a woman can wear it with impunity." That's... the kind of thing you go along with... just in case.

A big part of the curse, says the Smithsonian, are the many terrible circumstances around it. As well as those above, in 1739, the Persian ruler Nader Shah invaded Delhi, slaughtered tens of thousands of people, and left with so much loot that he needed 12,000 horses, 700 elephants, and 4,000 camels to carry it all. Among that loot was the diamond, which he'd removed from the Peacock Throne.

You could argue there's another curse here, too: India says that they should get the jewel back. England says, "Nah." And plenty of others think that's just not cool, and that means that part of its curse is controversy.

According to Christopher Mason, the pearl that would later be named La Peregrina — or, the Wanderer — was discovered in the 16th century on the coast of Panama, and presented to Ferdinand V by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. By the 1550s, it had been given to Mary I of England by her future husband, Philip II... who, when he finally met Mary, cursed at the artist who'd painted her portrait for taking a bit of artistic license.

And here's where the curse starts — Mary suffered a few phantom pregnancies and her husband abandoned her, returning to Spain, says King Jewelers. Through the 17th century, the pearl bounced around France and Spain, when it was worn by Philip IV at the rather unhappy marriage between Louis XIV and Maria Theresa. Eventually, it passed to the 3-year-old (and severely disfigured) Charles II, who married a woman who soon began a descent into depression and ultimately died young.

Over the next centuries, there were just as many unhappy marriages the pearl was witness to: Charles IV's Maria Luisa bore at least one child that wasn't his, Napoleon's brother Joseph gave the pearl to a daughter of Empress Josephine... who was then ordered to marry someone else, and ultimately left that husband. And so on, and so on... all the way up to when it was bought by Richard Burton and given as a gift to Elizabeth Taylor... whom he divorced. Twice.

The Hope Diamond was reportedly stolen from a Hindu statue and condemned to curse anyone who owns it (although Mental Floss says that origin story's not proven.) Take Louis XIV, who bought it from the man who was said to have stolen it, then died of gangrene. Then, there was Nicolas Fouquet, who Louis let wear the diamond occasionally — he fell from favor, was imprisoned, and he's even one of the candidates for the Man in the Iron Mask.

Then there was Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and we all know their end involved a guillotine. Before Marie met her maker, though, there was the nasty business of her confidante, Marie-Louise, who was clubbed, disemboweled, decapitated, and had her head paraded beneath Marie Antoinette's window... presumably not while wearing the stone.

It took some ordinary people, too. A jeweler who recut the diamond, Wilhelm Fals, was killed by his son, who then committed suicide, then a Greek merchant, drove his car off a cliff with himself, his wife, and their child inside. Evalyn Walsh McLean (pictured) had it particularly rough (perhaps because she liked to let her dog wear the gem). She lost her mother-in-law, her 9-year-old son, her husband (to both another woman and a mental institution), and her 25-year-old daughter. She obviously blamed the gem: she insured it for $155 and mailed it to the Smithsonian... unfortunately for mailman James Todd, who not only dropped off the gem, but suffered two major accidents and lost his house in a fire.

Diamonds might be a girl's best friend, but emeralds? They'll increase your prophetic gifts. And rubies? They'll protect against misfortune and make your dealings with others much more pleasant. But there's one stone that has something of a bad reputation: the opal. According to Opals Down Under, opals have such a bad image that there are jewelers in some countries — including some parts of southern Europe and the Middle East — that won't even sell them. No one wants them! Why?

It goes back a while: while the Ancient Romans believed opals to be good luck, throughout Medieval Europe, opals became the stone of choice for witches and warlocks, who were thought to use them to focus their evil energies. And... it kind of makes sense — they do sort of look like eyes, and it was also a time when the Evil Eye was incredibly dangerous. Tough times for the opal continued, and during the Black Plague, it became associated with disease and death.

The stone's image wasn't helped when Alfonzo XII ditched the Comtesse de Castiglione for another woman. The Comtesse sent that woman an opal and gold ring for the pair's wedding, and the bride died just two months later. The ring was then passed to the king's grandmother, who died, and his sister, who, you guessed it, died. For some reason, his sister-in-law then wanted the ring and she lived happily ever after. Just kidding — she died too.