OBJECT FILE

The Delhi Purple Sapphire ('the cursed amethyst')

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Natural History Museum (Vault gallery; not currently on view), London, United Kingdom

JEWELRYIN STORAGEDOCUMENTEDDISPUTED

THE OBJECT

An amethyst set in a silver ring with astrological symbols, held by the Natural History Museum with the letter Edward Heron-Allen wrote to accompany it. According to that letter the stone was looted from a temple at Cawnpore (Kanpur) in 1857 by a Bengal cavalry officer, W. Ferris, passed to his son, and came to Heron-Allen in 1890; he banked it and directed that it not be opened until after his death. He died in 1943; his daughter gave it to the museum in 1944.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Heron-Allen's letter calls the stone 'trebly accursed and stained with blood' and advises the finder to cast it into the sea. National Geographic and the museum's own staff have suggested the story was largely Heron-Allen's own creation, promoting his 1921 novella The Purple Sapphire; the 1857 looting is not independently documented. The museum displayed it in the Vault gallery; as of the sources used it is not on view.

WHERE IT IS NOW

In storage — kept by Natural History Museum, London. Natural History Museum (Vault gallery; not currently on view), London, United Kingdom.

PROVENANCE · 3 ENTRIES

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  1. 1857 – 1890

    POSSIBLE LOCATION

    W. Ferris (Bengal cavalry officer), then his son — per Heron-Allen's letter

    unrecorded, Kanpur, then England, India / United Kingdom

    The letter is the only source for this stay; the museum and National Geographic treat it as unverified and possibly invented.

    Source: Heron-Allen's letter, held with the stone at the Natural History Museum (as quoted by National Geographic)

  2. 1890 – 1943

    Edward Heron-Allen

    his home; later a bank vault, London, United Kingdom

    Sealed in nested boxes and banked with instructions not to open until after his death (d. 1943).

    Source: Heron-Allen's letter (acquisition 1890); National Geographic

  3. 1944 — CURRENT LOCATION

    Natural History Museum (gift of Heron-Allen's daughter)

    Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom

    Source: National Geographic ('In 1944 Heron-Allen's daughter donated the gem and letter'); Atlas Obscura

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