Compare French American Revolution

Solving mystery of the French Blue

A DOCUMENTARY on Arte this month will retrace the history of how one of the world's most famous diamonds, which is on show in America's Smithsonian Museum, turned out to
have been part of the crown jewels of France.

The Hope Diamond, said to be insured for at least $250 million, was proved in 2008 to be the French Blue, recut to disguise it. The diamond was stolen in 1792 by a mob from the Garde-Meuble Royal (today the Hôtel de la Marine) in Paris, along with the rest of the crown jewels.

The thieves were arrested by the revolutionary police and most of the jewels recovered, but the whereabouts of the French Blue remained a mystery.

A la Poursuite du Diamant Bleu retraces how François Farges, a jewellery expert from Paris's Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, proved that rumours about the Hope were true.

The key element was the discovery of a lead model of the French Blue, whose appearance was previously only known from two engravings.

On his appointment as head of the gems collection, Prof Farges organised an update of the inventory. He said: "A technician came across this triangular lead object in a diamond drawer. At first I thought it was a copy of a diamond from the 19th century, but when I turned it over I saw the corolla of facets typical of the 17th century and I broke out in a cold sweat. I knew straight away the major discovery we had made, that we had to scan it and compare it to the Hope."

Prof Farges said the engravings had been inadequate to carry out a conclusive comparison of the Hope and French Blue. However, comparing the model to them and weighing it to work out the original carats confirmed it was the French Blue, which has a seven-pointed motif on one side shaped like the Sun, perhaps a reference to its first owner, Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil.

Prof Farges then had the model scanned and compared with one of the Hope: "It was a wonderful discovery. It allowed me to prove this story that was going around among jewellers, that the blue diamond had been recut to make the Hope. Everyone was saying it, but no one had any proof."

He thought his detective work was over, until he decided to search the archives for a description of the lead model, but it had been wrongly labelled.

However the next item down was "a model of a diamond, remarkable for limpidity, belonging to Mr Hoppe of London", donated by a Paris jeweller, Charles Achard.

World History Analysis: Compare American Revolution and French ...

Only a few years earlier, colonial America had rebelled, not against poverty, but against the increasingly tyrannical rule of the British. In America, it was men of property and education, not the poor, who rebelled. For liberty, they invested their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Ironically, it was the French nobility who stepped in with naval support and saved the American Revolution from the brink of failure. The purpose of the American Revolution was to change the ruling laws, not to kill the king. Many colonists, including Benjamin Franklin, had close ties with England. Franklin was the leader in trying all possible avenues of diplomacy; revolution was the last resort. George Washington scrupulously avoided abusing military power by consistently deferring to the directives of the civilian government, and he always put the needs of his men before his own. He refused to be king. Noble of character he was; greedy and power-hungry he was not. American leaders did all they could to avoid anarchy. They sought the help of God in their endeavor, and received miraculous help when it was needed. The French Revolution, on the other hand, appears to have been driven by vengeance and hatred. Without a doubt, terrible injustices existed, as vividly depicted by Dickens and in Victor Hugo’s magnificent novel, Les Miserables. The French peasants were at a great disadvantage, because their poverty seemed insurmountable, and they lacked education and money; therefore they had no power to exercise influence on their oppressors. It is unfortunate that they resorted to terror. The mass murder of innocents resembled the ethnic cleansing of evil regimes in the twentieth century. The mindless killing thoroughly disqualified them from any divine assistance. By killing the upper class, and their families, and their servants, and anyone remotely related, they also purged the society of education, law, culture, and other refinements necessary to civilized society. Only anarchy resulted from their efforts. The old oppressors were merely replaced by a new tyrannical regime, more brutal than ever. It was bad enough that some even looked to figures like Napoleon to save them, but that really didn’t work well, either. The Americans went on to create a Constitution that is a model of liberty for the rest of the world. This Constitution provides maximum freedom, limited power in the national government, and the majority of the power to the states and people.

The American scene, varieties of American history

The Outlook

American Revolution, people and perspectives

The American Revolution, how revolutionary was it?

The Independent