BIGGEST BLUE DIAMOND TAKEN TO BIG APPLE FOR A MAKEOVER.

Byline: Verena Dobnik Associated Press

Named for a man who lost his love, his money and his life, the Hope Diamond arrived here for a polishing Wednesday, chaperoned by an armored car and guards with submachine guns.

Last week, a convoy roared down crowded Fifth Avenue to the massive wrought-iron door of Harry Winston jewelers. Four guards leaped out with submachine guns cocked and pistols loaded. Two men emerged from the Brink's armored car, gripping a small black suitcase that held the world's biggest blue diamond.

Even a stone as brilliant as the Hope will lose its luster. The 45.5-carat diamond has been on display at the Smithsonian gem gallery in Washington for nearly 40 years. Given that it was born about 1 billion years ago, a face lift was overdue.

``Over the years, dirt gets into it, the settings get loose, the metal oxidizes,'' said Ed Callaghan, spokesman for Harry Winston jewelers.

It was Harry Winston himself who in 1958 donated the diamond to the Smithsonian. Mounted on a diamond-studded necklace, the stone (estimated value $100 million) is seen by more people than any other artifact in the world, Smithsonian officials said.

As Winston employee Bob Sullivan said, it is ``the smallest, single most valuable object in the world.''

In its brief return home, the Hope passed through the same black-and-gold gate that has been buzzed open for some of the world's most famous rock-lovers. Jacqueline Onassis, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone and Marilyn Monroe all visited the store.

Sitting on a white velvet tray, the cold blue stone was carried into the satin-and-crystal ``grand salon'' and placed gingerly on a black velvet neck form in a glass column, surrounded by five flak-jacketed guards holding Uzis.

The Hope Diamond is said to have been stolen from the statue of a Hindu goddess in India in 1642 and sold to King Louis XIV of France.

Back then it was 112 carats, but Louis had it cut into a 67-carat teardrop diamond. The gem was worn by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, both of whom were beheaded in the French Revolution.

Thirty years later, the recut 45.52-carat diamond surfaced in London and was bought by Henry Thomas Hope as a gift for a wife who later eloped with another man. Hope sold the gem to avoid bankruptcy, and died soon after.

In 1911, heiress and Washington socialite Evelyn Walsh MacLean acquired the stone and sometimes placed it around the neck of her Great Dane to amuse guests.

Winston bought it in 1949 when MacLean died. When he donated it to the Smithsonian, he mailed it to the nation's capital in a plain wrapper.

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Photo: The 45.5-carat Hope Diamond is worth an estimated $1 00 million.

Associated Press