Some cool sell diamonds images:
The Hope Diamond
Image by akseabird
Generally not a diamond kind of girl, but it’s hard not to be impressed by this thing.
The sign on the wall next to it read: "The Hope Diamond has existed for more than a billion years. Since it formed deep within the earth the Atlantic Ocean has opened, closed and opened again…the dinosaurs have come and gone…humans evolved and spread across the face of the earth… Over the past three centuries, a rich human history full of mystery and intrigue has made it one of the world’s most famous gemstones."
This diamond is 45.52 carats and a deep blue color. It has an interesting history leading it to its current resting place at the Smithsonian.
It was most likely originally mined from the Killur Mine in India and given the name the Tavernier Blue. It was cut triangularly at 112 3/16th carats and purchased by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1660 or 1661. Legendarily, it may have been previously stolen from an eye of a sculpted idol of the Hindu goddess Sita.
In 1668 Tavernier sold the diamond to the French King Louis XIV at which time it was cut and reduced to 67 1/8 carats and set in gold. King Louis wore it on a ribbon around his neck during ceremonial occasions.
In 1749 King Louis XV had it reset on a pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Louis XVI gave the diamond to Marie Antoinette when he became king. In 1792 while Louis and Marie Antoinette were imprisoned during the French revolution the diamond was stolen by six men.
One of them took it to Le Havre, Gote de Bretagne spinel and then to London in an attempt to sell it and the other stole jewels. In 1796, finding himself in debt, Guillot gave the diamond to Lancry de la Loyelle and record of the diamond disappeared for some time after that.
In 1812, the earliest point to which the current diamond can be concretely traced, it was found in the possession of Londoner Daniel Eliason.
The Smithsonian points out that the reappearance of the diamond which appeared to be cut from the French Blue reappeared just as the statute of limitations on the theft had expired. It is also commonly believe that British King George IV had come into possession of the diamond, but the royal archives indicate no ownership of the diamond.
In 1824 the diamond was acquired by Henry Phillip Hope. After he died in 1839 the diamond was passed through generations of the Hope family until it was sold in for 29,000 pounds to Adolf Weil in 1902. Weil, a London jeweler, sold the diamond to US jewelery dealer Simon Frankel.
In 1908, with the diamond now in New York, Frankel sold it to Parisian Salomon Habib for 0,000.
Habib sold the diamond to jeweler rosenau for ,000 and in 1910 rosenau sold it to Piere Cartier for 550,00 francs.
Cartier re-set the stone and sold it in 1911 to American Evalyn Walsh McLean. When she died in 1947 the diamond was willed to her grandchildren but was to be held in trust for at least 20 years until the first reached the age of 25.
However, the trustees sold all of her jewels in 1949 the New Yorker Harry Winston.
Winston exhibited the diamond in various locations for many years without ever selling it. Finally in 1958 Winston had the bottom facet of the diamond cut in order to increase its brilliance and then sent it through the US Mail in a plain brown paper bag, to the Smithsonian Institute.
Initially after the donation the Smithsonian placed the diamond in a glass-fronted safe in the gem hall. In 1962 it was lent to a French gem exhibition and in 1965 to a South African show.
After the Smithsonian finished renovations in 1997 the diamond was moved into its own display room.
Media Markt diamonds?
Image by 4nitsirk
It almost looks like Media Markt also sells diamonds. Why would it otherwise be located right there? 
Pepper spray sold here
Image by mag3737
