Iconic 23-carat blue diamond could be yours for €44m
The largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever at auction, The Golconda Blue comes up at Christie's in Geneva on May 14.
Mounted in a ring by JAR and weighing 23.24 carats, the pear-shaped stone's provenance is rooted in Indian royalty.
It was owned by the Maharajah of Indore, known for a lifestyle of cosmopolitan sophistication in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1913, his father had acquired the Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet in Paris.
In 1923, he commissioned a diamond bracelet set with the Golconda Blue. In 1946, iconic jeweller Harry Winston purchased the Indore Pears from the Maharajah and acquired the Golconda Blue in 1947.
He set it in a brooch with a matching 23-carat white diamond and sold it to the Maharajah of Baroda. The brooch was subsequently reacquired by Mr Winston and resold to the current owner. At auction for the first time and in a ring setting by JAR, it is estimated at $35m-$50m (€30.78m-€43.97m).
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