[I'm not writing this but am dictating
it into a voice recognition system, so some of the spelling and
punctuation may look strange]
I got mixed up with some museum
exhibits I wanted to see. I thought I wanted to go to one at the
Natural History Museum called Buccellati: Art in Gold, Silver and Gems
because it was supposed to be displaying a unique diamond from the
Green Room in Dresden. When I went to the exhibit, it wasn't to my
taste: there was too much jewelry and that doesn't interest me. [And
it also struck me the odd that the Smithsonian would be having
such a large show for a commercial company which is still in
operation; once in a while it seemed like a gigantic commercial for
Buccellati]
I realized that the Dresden Green Diamond was, in fact, on display in
the museum, but upstairs with the Hope Diamond. I had never heard of
the Dresden Green but apparently it's very famous. Even after seeing
the exhibit, the relationship of the Hope Diamond and the Dresden
green Diamond is still not clear to me but apparently it's regarded as
the "twin" of the Hope Diamond because they both come from
the same part of India, both were discovered about the same time, both
are in the same 40 caret size range, and both were set in similar
styles.
The Hope Diamond is basically blue in a
setting of white diamonds while the Dresden one is basically green in
a 
setting of white diamonds. What was most interesting to me, however,
wasn't the size and value of the diamond but the history of the
Dresden green and all the vicissitudes it went through and not just in
the World War II and the Soviet occupation: Seven Years War;
Napoleonic invasions; fires; etc. etc. I don't know if the AOL people
will be able to see it, but in the left of this letter should be a
picture of the Hope Diamond and to the right one of the Dresden green,
the way they were displayed in museum - although the Dresden is much
greener "in the flesh" than in this picture and the Hope is
less blue than in it's picture.
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