Diamond ‘Arcot II’, royal Indian jewels go under hammer

A Golconda diamond ‘Arcot II’ once owned by Queen Charlotte,consort of King of Great Britain George III, a diamond necklace of the Nizamsof Hyderabad, and a jewel-studded bracelet by Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda,were among the sought-after Indian jewels that fetched high prices at aChristie’s auction here.

The auction titled “Maharajas and MughalMagnificence” had on offer 400 royal objects from The Al Thani Collectionof Qatar’s royal family.

   

The 17-carat Golconda diamond “Arcot II”, of theNawab of Arcot that later came to belong to the British royal family, sold fora stunning Rs 23.5 crore ($3,375,00).

The sale on Wednesday also included an antique diamondriviere necklace once owned by the Nizams of Hyderabad, which sold for$2,415,000 (nearly Rs 17 crore). The 33-diamond necklace was estimated to sellfor $1,500,000 (nearly Rs 10.5 crore), Christie’s announced on Twitter.

The bracelet of the Baroda queen, studded with emeraldbeads, baguette, diamonds, and platinum was sold for Rs 11.4 crore.

Global auction house Christie’s earlier said that thiscollection is poised to be the most valuable auction of jewellery and jewelledobjects. The current auction record is held by The Collection of ElizabethTaylor, which totalled $144 million in 2011.

The auction house also sold a gem-set model of a parrot,possibly Mughal in origin but taken from the collection of the Nizams ofHyderabad, sold for Rs 7.21 crore.

The auction had started with the ‘Indore Sapphire TaveezBead Pendant Necklace, Mounted By Cartier’ that owes its provenance to Indore’sMaharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II, who was educated in England and spent muchtime abroad with his wife.

The royal necklace achieved $206,250 (Rs 1.44 crore),surpassing a high estimate of $60,000 (Rs 42 lakh), Christie’s said in a tweet.

An antique diamond ring of Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipursold for Rs 4.45 crore.

Another major sale was of an enamelled and jewelled ‘huqqah’set from 1680-1720, “almost certainly made in the imperial Mughalworkshop” as per Christie’s, which went under the hammer for $759,000(almost Rs 5.3 crore) as compared to its higher limit estimate of $350,000(almost Rs 2.4 crore).

Another carved emerald brooch, and interchangeable ‘Jigha’mounting depicting Lord Rama, Sita and Hanuman has sold for $735,000 (close toRs 5.12 crore).

A five-strand natural pearl and diamond necklace and adiamond brooch created by Mumbai-based jewellery house Bhagat sold for highprices as well — Rs 11.8 crore and Rs 1.5 crore respectively.

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