Every museum piece has a past. You can feel it when you stand before the glass, imagining the hands that once held it. Royal courts. Battlefields. Revolutions. These objects soaked up history like a sponge. But here’s the issue: not every story is one of glory. The best ones are tales of bad luck, where a gorgeous gem or an ancient relic gets blamed for generations of misfortune. Think twice before you ever wish to own one. Read on, if you dare, and meet the artifacts that made collectors run the other way.
#1: The Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat deep-blue diamond with a history as rich as its color. It came from India’s Golconda mines. Later, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier sold it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. The gem became a French crown jewel but was stolen during the French Revolution in 1792. It appeared again in London around 1812. Its reputation for bringing bad luck really took off in the 20th century after Evalyn Walsh McLean suffered a string of family tragedies. The Smithsonian Institution bought the stone in 1958. Its curators report that none of their staff have suffered any unusual misfortunes since.
