Vijay Mallya's unlucky Tipu Sultan sword and other artefacts with bizarre history

By Shannon Tellis

Vijay Mallya gave away Tipu Sultan’s sword, which he had purchased for about Rs 1.5 crore at an auction, because “it brought him bad luck”. Here are some other artefacts with some strange history.

Hope Diamond
The 45.52-carat diamond has left a bloody trail in its wake. According to legend, when Jean-Baptiste Tavernier stole the 115.16 carat blue diamond from a Hindu statue, which had a curse on it. After Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV for a profit, he was mauled by a pack of wild dogs. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded in the French Revolution. The curse continued to follow the next owner, American heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean — her mother-in-law and nine-year-old son died, her husband left her and McLean eventually died owing huge debts.

The Busby Stoop Chair
According to locals, this chair was convicted murderer Thomas Busby’s favourite at the Busby Stoop Inn. On his way to the gallows in 1702, Busby cursed anyone who dared to sit in it. Locals say after sitting in the chair, two Royal air force pilots crashed into a tree, a roofer fell to his death and a cleaning lady died of a brain tumour. Finally, the landlord donated the chair to a museum with instructions to place it where nobody could sit on it. Today, it hangs five feet from the ground at Thirsk Museum.

Basano Vase
Legend has it that this silver vase made in the 15th century was given to a bride on the eve of her wedding. It was passed down her family after she was murdered that very night. But all those who took possession of the artefact were mysteriously killed. When the vase was auctioned off in 1988, it claimed three more lives. The last owners tried to get rid of it by throwing it out the window, but it struck a local carabinieri (police).

Black Orlov diamond
The Black Orlov or Eye of Brahma Diamond is thought to bring bad luck to women. In the 1940s, two Russian princesses — Leonila Galitzine-Bariatinsky and Nadia Vygin-Orlov — jumped to their deaths within a month of gaining the diamond. In an attempt to break the curse, Charles Winson had the diamond cut into three pieces and what is known as the Black Orlov today was set into a brooch of 108 diamonds, suspended from a necklace of 124 diamonds.

The Women from Lemb statue
Aptly nicknamed the Goddess of Death, this artefact was unearthed in Lemb, Cyprus in 1878. The limestone statue was first bought by Lord Elphont. Within six years, all seven members of his family perished. The next three owners — Ivor Menucci, Lord Thompson-Noel and Sir Alan Biverbrook — and their families met similar fates. The statue was donated to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. The last person to handle the artefact, the museum curator, passed away within a year.

James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder
When ‘the car that killed James Dean’ was stripped in 1955, the only salvageable parts were the engine, drive-train and two tyres. Customiser George Barris sold the engine and drive-train to rival drivers William Eschrid and Troy McHenry, who met with accidents while racing each other. McHenry died instantly and Eschrid was injured. In a separate incident, the tyres blew out simultaneously causing the owner to run off the road. The original wreck (lent to a National Safety Council exhibit) slipped off a trailer, crushing a mechanic’s leg.