While the Hope Diamond is the most popular exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, tucked away at the National Postal Museum just a mile away is the post-stamped plain brown mailing wrapper that represents an aspect of the gem's history that's been largely untold and that few people have ever seen.
New York-based luxury jeweler Harry Winston owned the Hope Diamond from 1948 to 1957, and over that time, the gem traveled throughout America as part of Winston's Court of Jewels exhibition. In 1958, Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian and used his surefire way to get it there.
It may seem surprising, but Winston delivered the priceless gem — not by armored vehicle — but by the US Postal Service.
“It’s the safest way to mail gems,” Winston told The Evening Star (Washington, DC) at the time. “I’ve sent gems all over the world that way.”
The registered First-Class postage cost him just $2.44, but he also paid $142.85 for $1 million worth of insurance. The total payment of $145.29 is equivalent to $1,582 today.
This past Friday, we got a chance to see the actual postal wrapper, up close and personal, at the National Postal Museum, which is located across the street from Union Station, just north of the Capitol building.
If you're planning to visit this off-the-path Smithsonian (the Postal Museum attracts just 200,000 visitors a year vs. 4.4 million for the National Museum of Natural History), be sure to ask a Smithsonian staffer to point out where the Harry Winston wrapper is located.
Just inside the gallery, you will see a seven-foot-high case that looks like a travel steamer trunk standing on its end. Built into the side of the trunk are six numbered drawers. If you slide out drawer number 3, you will be a glass pane away from a mailing wrapper plastered with 16 $9.00 postage stamps, one $1.29 stamp, and a "Fragile" marking.
The face of the wrapper includes a Harry Winston Inc. shipping label, and a simple typewritten address (Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.) Hand-written, as if it were an afterthought, is the addressee, Dr. Leonard Carmichael.
In Washington, on November 10, 1958, the package was delivered to the Natural History Museum by local letter carrier James G. Todd. Reporters were on hand to witness Todd plucking the valuable package from his mail satchel and presenting it to Smithsonian's Secretary Carmichael and Smithsonian Curator George Switzer.
In a piece that aired in December 2020, Dan Piazza, Curator of the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, told Harry Smith of NBC's Today show, “The National History Museum can have the diamond. I want the box it came in. I kind of think we got the better end of the deal.”
Credits: Hope Diamond mail wrapper and display shots by Bruce Carter/The Jeweler Blog.