Smithsonian releases season three of Sidedoor Podcast
(Artdaily.org)

The Smithsonian’s podcast “Sidedoor” returned with an episode that takes listeners inside one of the most exclusive places in all of Washington, D.C.: the National Gem Collection vault. Once passing through multiple levels of security protocol, host Tony Cohn and Jeff Post, curator of gems and minerals, waste no time talking about the main attraction—the Hope Diamond. The blue diamond was forged billions of years ago from the tectonic pressure under the Indian subcontinent and has lived a legendary life. It was a curiosity for Louis XIV, a “cursed bauble” thanks to 18th-century English tabloid journalism and a toy for a pink-haired socialite who would throw it in her pool for her grandchildren to retrieve before it arrived at the Smithsonian in a plain, brown envelope via the U.S. Postal Service. Sidedoor launched its first season Oct. 26, 2016, and cracked the top 10 of the Apple Podcasts charts in