Christie’s is getting ready to present The Golconda Blue, the largest Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond ever to be offered at auction. Weighing 23.24 carats, this gemstone will headline Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, which takes place live on May 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva. The diamond has an estimate of $35 million to $50 million.
It is mounted in a ring by JAR, and ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered.
The diamond’s history traces back to Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the Maharaja of Indore — a cosmopolitan figure of the 1920s and ’30s who was known for his refined taste in art and jewels. In 1923, he commissioned Chaumet to set the 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond into a bracelet. A decade later, Mauboussin reimagined it as part of a necklace worn by the Maharani, immortalized in a portrait by Bernard Boutet de Monvel.
In 1947, the diamond was acquired by Harry Winston, who later sold it as a brooch to the Maharaja of Baroda. Reacquired and resold, the stone now returns to the market for the first time.
“Exceptional noble gems of this caliber come to market once in a lifetime,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s international head of jewelry. “Over the course of its 259-year history, Christie’s has had the honor of offering some of the world’s most important Golconda diamonds, including the Archduke Joseph, the Princie and the Wittelsbach. With its Royal heritage, extraordinary color and exceptional size, The Golconda Blue is truly one of the rarest blue diamonds in the world.”
Sanyogitabai Devi of Indore wears the Golconda blue mounted in an an Art Deco Mauboussin sautoir.
Bernard Boutet de Monvel, courtesy of Christie’s
“Golconda” is a name that is used in the jewelry world to denote the world’s finest diamonds and gems that possess luminousness, transparency and an innate purity. It also signifies that the gem was mined in the ancient diamond fields of Eastern India. Some of the most famous Golconda stones include the Agra Diamond, the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, the Koh-i-Noor which forms part of the British Crown Jewels, the Darya-i-Nur in Iran and The Princie Diamond.
