It has also been called the Eugenie Blue Diamond, although it’s uncertain that the Empress Eugenie ever owned this particular stone. It was cut in Paris between 1909 and 1910, but the stone’s origin – Africa or India – is unclear.

It is an enormous heart-shaped, blue diamond weighing 30.82 carats. Its current setting is in a platinum ring, surrounded by white diamonds. It changed hands among famous jewelers – such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels – and owners until it was bought by Harry Winston in 1959 who mounted the diamond in its current ring setting. Winston sold the ring to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Mrs. Post donated the ring to the Smithsonian and it remains there with other famous blue diamonds, including the Hope Diamond and the Heart of Eternity Diamond.

These famous blue diamonds have recently gone through a grading and examination process, to classify their colors and to determine the source of the color. The Hope Diamond is classified as Fancy Deep Grayish-Blue. The Heart of Eternity has been classified as a Fancy Vivid Blue. The Blue Heart Diamond has not yet been classified, but some experts categorize it as either Fancy Vivid Blue or Fancy Deep Blue. Blue diamonds are of particular interest to scientists not only because of the color and the impurities that create it, but because blue diamonds also have an electric conductive property that makes them unique among clear and other colored diamonds.

Two large, pear-shaped diamond earrings, weighing 14.25 and 20.34 carats respectively, are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s collection. The diamonds once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to Marie Antoinette and some sources say they were her favorite pieces of jewelry and she wore them constantly. They were taken from her during an attempt to flee France as the Revolution dawned and the position of the Royals became dangerous.

The diamonds were later acquired by the Grand Duchess Tatiana Yousupoff of Russia. When jeweler Pierre Cartier puchased the diamond earrings in 1928, their authenticity was attested to in an affidavit by Russian Princess Zenaide Yousupoff and her son, Prince Felix Yousupoff, stating that they originally belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette and have never been reset in the one hundred years that they were in the family. Marjorie Merriweather Post acquired the earrings from Pierre Cartier in October 1928. Harry Winston reset the large diamonds in platinum replicas of the original silver settings in 1959. Cartier, Inc. designed the triangular tops. In November 1964, Mrs. Post’s daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Barzin, donated the earrings, along with the original setting to the Smithsonian Institution. The diamonds are originally from India or Brazil, the only significant sources of diamonds in the eighteenth century.

The necklace was designed by Baumgold Brothers, Inc, and consists of a yellow gold chain with 66 round brilliant-cut diamonds, fringed with ten drop motifs, each set with two marquise-cut diamonds, a pear-shaped diamond, and a small round brilliant-cut diamond (the total weight of the 106 diamonds is about 45 carats). The configuration of these stones makes them look like small angels! The necklace was donated by Leonard and Victoria Wilkinson in 1977 to the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.

Other colored diamonds in the Smithsonian Collection include the 8.30-carat Shepard Diamond. This stone is from South Africa, and was acquired by the Smithsonian Museum in exchange for a collection of small diamonds that had been seized as smuggled goods by the United States Customs Service. The diamond is named for the Smithsonian employee who helped facilitate the transaction.

An extremely rare red diamond resides at the Smithsonian as well. This is the De Young Red, a 5.03-carat, brilliant cut red diamond. The main kite-shaped facets on the crown are divided in two, giving the stone more brilliance than a standard round brilliant cut. The stone is not pure red but has a slight brown hue, which makes it appear like a fine red garnet and indeed, it was once purchased as such at an estate sale.

It is the third largest red diamond in the world, after the Moussaieff Red (5.11 carats) and the Red Diamond (5.05 carats).

The necklace has an estimated total gem weight of 275 carats, and the largest single diamond on it weighs approximately 10 carats. When Marie-Louise died in 1847, the necklace was given to her sister-in-law, Archduchess Sophie of Austria, who removed two stones to shorten the necklace. Earrings were made with the two removed stones, the whereabouts of which are unknown.

In 1872, the necklace was bequeathed to the Archduchess’ son, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. In 1948, Archduke Ludwig’s grandson, Prince Franz Joseph of Liechtenstein, sold the necklace to a French collector who then sold it to Harry Winston in 1960. Marjorie Merriweather Post obtained the necklace from Winston and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1962.

It’s difficult to value a piece like this in today’s market. However, in 1993, the auction house Christie’s in Geneva sold another necklace that Napoleon had given to Marie-Louise that was composed of rubies and diamonds. This necklace sold for $13 million.

As stunning as this cut topaz is, another display at the Smithsonian is equally dazzling and awe-inspiring. That’s a sherry-colored topaz “spray” from the Thomas Range in Utah. This color of topaz can be found in Mexico and Utah, but when it’s exposed to sunlight, will become clear.

Other spectacular displays of natural crystals include a cluster of Stibnite, an ore of antimony, which has a bright metallic luster. This spectacular group of crystals is from Iyo, Japan and look like something from Superman’s home!

Another huge mineral in the exhibit is the Smithsonite, named for James Smithson, who bequeathed the funds to establish the Smithsonian Institution. He first discovered this greenish zinc carbonate mineral from the Kelly Mine in New Mexico.

Some of the other don’t miss items in the Smithsonian’s Gem Collection are the Smithsonian Canary Diamond, a huge canary and diamond ring. The 98.6-carat Bismarck Sapphire is also part of the collection and is one of the world’s largest sapphires. It originally came from Sri Lanka. It’s also fascinating to see some of these gems in their raw uncut state, such as the large corundrum crystal which is the mineral that sapphires are made of, and a very large beryl crystal, from which the emerald and aquamarine family of stones is derived.

In the original diadem, there were 22 large and 57 small emeralds, along with 1002 brilliant-cut and 66 rose-cut diamonds. The central emerald weighed 12 carats. After the fall of the Emperor, Marie-Louise fled to Vienna and took her personal jewelry with her, including the diadem and other pieces that were made as part of a set, including a necklace, a pair of earrings and a comb.

Empress Marie-Louise left the diadem to her Hapsburg aunt, Archduchess Elise. Archduke Karl Stefan Hapsburg of Sweden, a descendent of the Archduchess sold the set to Van Cleef & Arpels in 1953. Between May 1954 and June 1956, the emeralds were removed and sold individually in pieces of jewelry as emeralds “from the historic Napoleon Tiara.”

Between 1956 and 1962, Van Cleef & Arpels mounted turquoise cabochons into the diadem. In 1962, the diadem was displayed in the Louvre in Paris with the necklace, earrings, and comb in an exhibit about Empress Marie-Louise. In 1971, Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post cereal fortune, purchased the diadem for the Smithsonian Institution. There are 1,006 mine-cut diamonds weighing a total of 700 carats and 79 Persian turquoise stones weighing a total of 540 carats. In one respect, it’s a shame that the original piece was dismantled to sell off the emeralds. Yet the diadem, reset with the turquoise cabochons is equally beautiful and made even more distinctive with the use of the less valuable turquoise.

It is a spectacular double row of diamonds and emeralds ending in a chandelier of emeralds. There is unfortunately very little information about the provenance of this necklace. The large diamonds and Columbian emeralds were most likely cut in India in the 17th century. This would make them one of the earliest examples of cut gemstones in the Smithsonian’s Collection. There are really only legends surrounding this necklace. They indicate that it was worn at times by Spanish and French royalty. In the early 20th century, it was purchased by the Maharajah of Indore, whose son sold the necklace in 1947 to Harry Winston. Winston subsequently sold the necklace to Mrs. Cora Hubbard Williams of Pittsburgh. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian in 1972.

Emeralds are a form of crystal known as beryls. Beryls are normally clear crystals, but when infused with chromium or vanadium, they attain various gradations of green. The purest green are the rarest emeralds and many people actually prefer an emerald that has a blue-green tint.

Before the 16th century, the only known emerald deposits were in Cleopatra’s Egyptian mines. But after emeralds were discovered in Columbia, those became the “gold standard” in emeralds. Columbian emeralds have been discovered by archaeologists among artifacts of such tribes as the Inca, Maya, Aztec, Toltec and the lesser-known Chibcha Indians. Emeralds are among the rarest of gemstones and can be more expensive per carat than even the finest diamonds! They are a hard mineral, with a Moh’s hardness scale of 7 or 8 (compared to a diamond’s 10). While most emeralds are found in Africa, Russia and Africa, there have been discoveries of emerald deposits in North Carolina!

It first appears in history in the mid 1600s when it was purchased by a merchant named Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who sold the stone to Louis XIV of France. At that time it was a 112-carat stone, described as having a beautiful violet color. It was recut into a 67-carat stone and the color was named French Blue. During the French Revolution, the diamond was stolen during a looting of the crown jewels. It reappeared in 1812, but recut once again and was acquired by George IV of England who had to sell the stone to pay off debts. The exact transaction is unknown, but the diamond is next found as an entry in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, whose name is attached to the diamond to this day.

Eventually the stone was owned by the Cartier jewelry firm in Paris and purchased by Evalyn Walsh Maclean of Washington, DC. It was at her request that the stone was reset and made into the necklace that we know of today. It was acquired by Henry Winston who purchased it from Mrs. Maclean’s estate in 1947 and eventually became part of the Smithsonian Collection.

There is a long-standing legend of a curse attached to the Hope Diamond, which the story says was plucked from an idol in India. True or not, many who have owned the Hope Diamond have met with misfortune, including the Hope family, who supposedly went bankrupt from owning the diamond. It’s possible that the whole concept of the curse originated with Pierre Cartier who sold it to Mrs. Maclean with the story of a curse, because she thought objects surrounded with bad luck were actually good luck for her. Sadly, Mrs. Maclean’s first son was killed at age 9 in a car accident and her 25-year old daughter committed suicide. Her husband was declared insane and was institutionalized until his death in 1941. Was it part of a curse?

In the National Gem Collection are examples of spectacular minerals and crystals, as well gemstones and jewelry. You can see a beautiful purple quartz amethyst crystal, or the mineral azurite, which is a bright blue copper compound mineral. You can also see a huge green beryl crystal. Beryls are the mineral family that include emeralds, aquamarines, heliodor and morganite. It’s almost as exciting to see the raw crystal as it is to see the finished product when it’s been cut and polished.

Some of the finished pieces in the Smithsonian Collection include the crown Napoleon used for the second Empress, Marie Louise. It originally was made of 700 carats in diamonds and 79 emeralds. The emeralds have been replaced with Persian turquoise cabochons.

You can also see the 182-carat Star of Bombay star sapphire that was given to Mary Pickford by Douglas Fairbanks and a brilliantly colored black opal. Black opals are the most valuable of the opal family of gems.

There are also extraordinary examples of quartz crystals, including a 7,000 faceted clear quartz egg! Part of the Smithsonian’s collection includes pieces of jade and turquoise used in other cultures. This includes a collection of Zuni Indian turquoise jewelry and jade lanterns carved from nephrite for the Chinese emperor Chi’en Lung in 1750. A more modern piece is the Dragon Vase, carved from a rare piece of lavender jade.

But of course, the most dazzling items in the collection are the individual gemstones and jewelry that have been owned by royalty through the centuries.