Re: humorous if off topic (follows on to: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues...)

[ehrice@his.com (Edward Rice)]

In article <hnsngr-ya023180000808992023390001@news.pacbell.net>,
hnsngr@sirius.com (Ron Hunsinger) wrote:

 > Charles Richmond wrote:
 > 
 > > Kind of like the Hope Diamond.  The Hope Diamond is one of the largest
 > > diamonds in the world in a single chunk.  About 20 years ago, the guy
 > > who owned it decided he would donate it to the Smithsonian museum. 
The
 > > problem was he lived in New York City, and the Smithsonian was
hundreds
 > > of miles away in Washington, D.C.  So how could he safely ship the
diamond?
 > >
 > > He decided to wrap it up in a pasteboard box and *mail* it to the
Smithsonian.
 > > Just sent it via regular mail, and I doubt that he insured it since it
would
 > > be worth *millions* of dollars.  And geuss what...it got to the
Smithsonian
 > > just fine.  So when you go to see it, you will see a cardboard box in
the same
 > 
 > The way I heard it, they sent it by U.S.Mail, but they did tell the Post
 > Office what it was, and insured it for the full value. That made it the
 > Post Office's problem to get it there safely, something they were
willing
 > (and able) to do, given the size of the insurance premium.

Either the National Museum of Natural History or the National Postal
Museum, both in DC and both under the Smithsonian umbrella, makes it clear
that the Hope Diamond was sent from Harry Winston's in New York City to the
Smithsonian via registered mail, which involves armed guards and very
careful chain-of-custody controls.  It's anything but "regular mail."  It's
amazingly inexpensive, btw -- if someone wants to send postcards that way,
it's about the same cost as for a FedEx package (but not overnight
service).

I think the turnover took place in the early 1950's, also, not "about 20
years ago," but I'm not sure of the date.