Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Thursday Challenge — "hard"

I recently visited the Museum of Natural History,
where I found this hard thing:  It's the Star of India,
a 563-carat star sapphire that was donated to
the museum in 1901 by J. P. Morgan.  It was stolen
 in 1964 (at which time it was uninsured and "protected" by
an alarm with a dead battery!).  The thief was caught, the gem
recovered (from a locker in a Miami bus station), and
I assume they've taken better care of this treasure since then.

[To see more of this challenge, go here.]

7 comments:

  1. Beautifully photographed in difficult light. I thnk I remember that thing!
    V

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  2. Lovely!
    It's interesting how some famous gems are said to place a curse on the owner. It seems the stories of some of these jewels often include theft, betrayal, and murder....

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  3. *whistle* Wow, what a stunner! You and Ms M have set my mind wandering into the world of gemstone intrigue...

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  4. Very nice! Wonder how big it really is. No don't worry, don't have any plans... ;)

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  5. I wonder if this was once at the Smithsonian? I remember my cousin - who was into jewelry way sooner than I was - was trying to point it out to me but I wanted to look at something (anything!) else.

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