292 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
re-united
them. There is nothing to be added to Mr. Streeter's own account of his
establishment of the " Hope Blue " as part of the famous Tavernier
stone. It is, therefore, quite in order that we should quote the
following interesting passage from Precious Stones and Gems.:—
"
This stone (the ' French Blue') was, with the rest of the French
regalia, seized in August, 1792, and deposited in the Garde Meuble.
From this insecure place it was surreptitiously abstracted in September
of the same year. What became of it remains a mystery. That it should
have really been lost is incredible, and from the sudden appearance of
a stone of similar character, the extraordinary rarity of which is
acknowledged, I strongly incline towards the belief that it was
Tavernier's re-cut, and so altered in form as to render its
identification very difficult. This hypothesis, which I offer, receives
additional possibility from the fact that a blue brilliant about the
year 1830 was in the hands of Mr. Daniel Eliason, which stone came to
light without a history, without any account being rendered as to
whence it came, and what had been its travels and fortunes.
Subsequently I trace it as the property of the late Mr. Henry Thomas
Hope, under the name of the ' Hope' diamond. The difference in weight
between the original stone of 67 1/2 carats, and this actual
stone of 44 1/4, forces upon us the interrogation, 'Was the weight lost
simply in the cutter's hands in manipulating the stone, or were one or
more pieces removed by simple cleavage and preserved ?' I incline to
the latter alternative, viz.; that the diamond abstracted
