Friday the 13th - Cursed Amethyst!
The Delhi Purple Sapphire is a gemstone with a history shrouded in mystery and intrigue. The story of this gem was unknown until a curator at London’s Natural History Museum found a letter stored with the gemstone. This strange letter unraveled a dark tale of the stone...
The letter told the story behind the "sapphire" (which, in fact, is actually not a sapphire but an Amethyst). The sapphire is said to have been stolen from a temple in India during the time of British colonial rule and brought to England. The gemstone was believed to have been cursed by the Hindu god of death & war, and was said to bring misfortune to anyone who owned it.
The first recorded owner and the writer of the letter was Edward Heron-Allen, a British writer and scholar. Heron-Allen purchased the gemstone in 1890 and soon began to experience a series of misfortunes. He claimed that the sapphire brought him bad luck and that it was cursed. Heron-Allen eventually gave the sapphire away to a friend, hoping to rid himself of the curse. He was so wary of the sapphire that he tried get rid of it on numerous occasions, attempting to gift it to close friends, who returned the stone once they suffered misfortunes of their own. In one case, the recipient was a singer who lost her voice upon receiving the stone. After suffering more bad luck, Heron-Allen threw it into the Regent Canal, only to have it return into his possession three months later when a street dealer returned it to him after a dredger sold it to him. Fearing that it would impact the birth of his newborn daughter, Edward locked away the stone inside a box, leaving instructions to his banker not to open it until three years after his death.
Edward Heron-Allen’s daughter turned out to be the one who donated the Delhi Purple Sapphire to the Museum of Natural History in London, with the handwritten note from her father that was found in the jewelry box with the piece. Despite the many tales of misfortune associated with the Delhi Purple Sapphire, skeptics argue that the curse is nothing more than a superstition. However, the legend continues to capture the imagination of many, and the cursed sapphire remains a fascinating and mysterious piece of jewelry. To this day people still believe that this gem has an evil influence onto those close to is, and the curse will only be over when it is returned to the place where it truly belongs.
