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The Golgonda Blue, a 23.24-carat fancy vivid blue diamond, has an estimate of $35- 50 million Christie’s will present the largest fancy vivid blue diamond to be offered at auction. Named “The Golconda Blue,” it weighs 23.
24 carats and has an estimate of $35 - 50 million. It will be the headline lot at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale on May 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva. The Golconda Blue is mounted in a contemporary ring by esteemed high jewelry artist, JAR, and ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered throughout history, according to Christie’s.
The auction house did not immediately provide a laboratory report of the gem with details of its color and clarity grades. The pear-shaped diamond boasts a 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, Christie’s said in a statement.
'The Golgonda Blue' mounted on a ring by JAR 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, Christie’s said. In 1923, during another visit to Chaumet, he commissioned a diamond bracelet set with his own 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond. FEATURED | Frase By Forbes TM Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Yeshwant Rao Holkar appointed Mauboussin as his official jeweler in 1933.
Afterward, Mauboussin reimagined much of the Maharaja’s collection and created a long flowing necklace that included both the Golconda Blue and the Indore Pears. It was worn by the Maharani of Indore memorialized in a portrait by Bernard Boutet de Monvel. Sanyogitabai Devi of Indore (1914-1937), The Maharani of Indore painted by Bernard Boutet de Monvel .
.. More in 1934 Yeshwant Rao Holkar also collaborated with other iconic jewelers, including Harry Winston.
In 1946, 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 Winston and resold as a newly designed jewel to its current owner.
More than a century later, this same blue diamond will appear at auction 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. "With its Royal heritage, extraordinary color, and exceptional size, The Golconda Blue is truly one of the rarest blue diamonds in the world.
” The Golgonda Blue, a Fancy vivid blue pear shaped diamond of 23.24 carats, setting by JAR The legacy of Golconda diamonds begins with a reference found in a 4th-century Sanskrit manuscript. In 327 BC, Alexander the Great brought diamonds from India to Europe, sparking the West’s enduring fascination with these rare gems, Christie’s said.
By 1292 AD, Marco Polo chronicled the beauty of Indian diamonds in his travel writings. Today, The Golconda Blue stands not only as a natural marvel but also as a storied jewel, with a provenance bridging continents, dynasties, and centuries. While The Golconda Blue is the largest diamond offered at auction, the largest known fancy blue diamond is the Hope Diamond at 45.
52 carats. It is the property of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
, donated to the museum by Harry Winston. Even at its high estimate the Golconda Blue will fall short of the most expensive diamonds sold at auction even though it is much bigger than the largest fancy blue diamonds sold at auction. The 14.
62-carat “ Oppenheimer Blue ,” is currently the most expensive fancy vivid blue diamond sold at auction and for a short time was the most expensive gem ever sold at auction. It fetched more than $57.5 million at Christie’s Geneva auction in May 2016.
Currently, the largest fancy vivid blue diamond sold at auction is the 15.10-carat “ De Beers Blue ,” which sold for $57.4 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April 2022.
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