The Golconda Blue – the largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever to be offered at auction – comes up at Christie’s in Geneva on May 14 with an estimate of $35 – 50 million. Weighing an extraordinary 23.24 carats and perfectly mounted in a ring by JAR it ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds.
Tpear-shaped diamond boasts a remarkable provenance rooted in Indian Royalty. Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the Maharaja of Indore and a member of the Holkar dynasty, was known—alongside his wife—for a lifestyle defined by elegance and cosmopolitan sophistication in the 1920s and ’30s. A Knight of the Order of the Indian Empire, the Maharaja spent much of his time abroad, cultivating a strong affinity for Western art, design, and jewellery. In 1913, his father acquired the famed Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet, marking the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the historic Parisian Maison. In 1923, during another visit to Chaumet, he commissioned a diamond bracelet set with his own 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar appointed Mauboussin as his official jeweller in 1933. Thereafter, Mauboussin reimagined much of the Maharaja’s collection and created the exceptional necklace including the Golconda Blue and the Indore Pears. Holkar collaborated with other iconic jewelers, including Harry Winston. In 1946, Mr. Winston purchased the Indore Pears from the Maharaja, and the following year, in January 1947, he acquired this 23-carat blue diamond. Winston later set it in a brooch alongside a matching 23-carat white diamond, which he sold to the Maharaja of Baroda. The brooch was subsequently reacquired by Mr. Winston and resold as a newly designed jewel to its current owner.
It is now at auction for the first time. UPDATE: THE STONE WAS PULLED FROM THE SALE AFTER IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE OWNERS DECIDED TO SELL IT WITHIN THE FAMILY.
