What Harry Winston is known for
A New York fine-jewelry house founded in 1932 by Harry Winston, who bought the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond in 1949 and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1958; its Paris salon at 29 Avenue Montaigne has operated since the early 1960s.
Harry Winston founded his jewelry company in New York in 1932, opening a Fifth Avenue salon and shifting from diamond dealing into designing and selling jewelry under his own name. He built a reputation for handling major historic stones, most famously purchasing the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond in 1949; in 1958 he donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, a gift that became the founding centerpiece of the museum's National Gem Collection and remains on public display in Washington, D.C. Winston's Paris presence dates to the early 1960s, when he opened a salon at 29 Avenue Montaigne, in the same stretch of the 8th arrondissement associated with the city's major couture and jewelry houses; Winston himself presented collections there in person during that period. The Avenue Montaigne salon was renovated in 2014 and continues to operate as the house's flagship high-jewelry location in Paris. The company has also loaned jewelry for major public occasions, including Academy Awards ceremonies, and its association with the Hope Diamond remains central to how the house's history is presented publicly today.
In the press
- Smithsonian Magazine 2025
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — The Hope Diamond's donor and Oscar-night jewel lender, on Avenue Montaigne.
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In the Journal
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