Editor’s Note
This season’s auction highlight is a true rarity: a 23.24-carat vivid blue diamond from the legendary Golconda mines, carrying royal provenance and an estimate exceeding €46 million. It is the largest diamond of its kind ever offered at auction.
A diamond of museum quality, with royal provenance and an estimated value of over 46 million euros: The Golconda Blue has all the prerequisites to become a true showstopper this auction season…
Christie’s will auction an exceptionally rare diamond in Geneva on May 14: a 23.24-carat, vivid blue Golconda diamond, set in a ring by the exclusive Parisian jeweler JAR. This is the largest diamond of this color category ever offered at auction. Estimated proceeds? Between 32.5 and 46.5 million euros.
The stone has a remarkable provenance. Once owned by Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the charismatic Maharaja of Indore, and his wife Krishna Bai Holkar, both style icons of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1923, the Maharaja brought the diamond to Paris to have it set into a bracelet by Chaumet. Ten years later, the stone was reset again, this time into a necklace by Mauboussin, whom Holkar appointed as his official jeweler in 1933. The necklace was worn by the Maharani and is captured in a famous portrait.
In 1947, the diamond was purchased by Harry Winston, who bore the nickname “King of Diamonds.” He combined the blue stone with an equally large white diamond into a brooch, which was sold to the Maharaja of Baroda. Winston later repurchased the piece and sold it in an adapted form to the current owner.
For the first time in its rich history, the diamond is now being offered to the public.
The most expensive blue diamond to date was the 15.10-carat “The Beer Blue,” which was auctioned at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2022 for 53.5 million euros.
