by Megan Stoddard

Created on: October 13, 2009

Anything highly valued is likely to have superstition attached to it. Many superstitions surround the birth of babies and the first months of their lives. Many superstitions surround major life transitions, such as marriage. In modern times, many people hold personal superstitions regarding such things as job interviews, finances, and their own performance in sports, school, or gambling. It should be no surprise that superstition surrounds precious metals and gems. The very words we use to describe them say something about how valued they are.

Most people who can afford precious metals and gemstones never see the inside of a mine. They may be aware that these things cost a lot of money, but they do not directly sense the high human and environmental costs. Metals and most gems must be extracted from the earth, in a laborious process that is often dangerous to the workers and just as often causes permanent damage to the land.

While it has been true for ages that the people who extract them are rarely the people who wear them, it is also likely that much of the superstition regarding precious metals and gems has the uneasy sense of their real cost at its root. Digging into folklore, we find many stories, in many cultures, of these things being stolen from such beings as dwarves, dragons, ghosts, gods, or nature spirits. Precious metals and gems, unlike such things as food, water, or the knowledge of various arts, are never given to humanity by the gods or spirits. All folklore regarding their original acquisition has the theme of theft.

Unsurprisingly, many superstitions surrounding jewels have to do with purported curses, and the most cursed are the ones that have a history - sometimes documented, sometimes anecdotal - of being stolen, especially from a sacred place. The Hope Diamond, now residing in the Smithsonian Institute, is said to have been stolen from the statue of a Hindu god, where it had been the god's eye. It is said to have been hanging around Marie Antoinette's neck when she was beheaded.

Multiple tales of woe are linked with the Koh-i-Noor Diamond. Legend has it that it was originally stolen from the god Krishna, and history has it that the Persians stole it from the Mogul emperor when they sacked Delhi in 1739. In the hundred and ten years it belonged to the Persian kings, there were repeat and violent attempts to steal it. Since it was given to Queen Victoria after being taken by the British following the Sikh wars, care has been taken to ensure

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