Coming up for Chirstie’s summer auction in May this year is a historic gemstone, The Golconda Blue – the largest Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever to be offered at auction. Weighing an extraordinary 23.24 carats, with an estimate of $35 – 50 million, this historic gemstone will headline Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale taking place live on May 14, 2025 in Geneva. With its recently uncovered royal provenance, mesmerizing colour, and sensational size, the Golconda Blue, perfectly mounted in a ring by JAR, is a true masterpiece. It ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered throughout history.
According to Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Jewelry, Christie’s, “Exceptional noble gems of this calibre come to market once in a lifetime. Over the course of its 259-year history, Christie’s has had the honour 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 colour, and exceptional size, The Golconda Blue is truly one of the rarest blue diamonds in the world.”
This exceptional pear-shaped Golconda diamond boasts a remarkable 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. A Knight of the Order of the Indian Empire, the Maharaja spent much of his time abroad, cultivating a strong affinity for Western art, design, and jewellery.
In 1913, his father acquired the famed Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet, the French luxury jewellery and watch house, marking the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the historic Parisian Maison. In 1923, during another visit to Chaumet, he commissioned a diamond bracelet set with his own 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond.
Drawn to the firm’s avant-garde flare, Yeshwant Rao Holkar appointed Mauboussin, the French jewellery company, as his official jeweller in 1933. Thereafter, Mauboussin reimagined much of Maharaja’s collection and created the exceptional necklace, including the Golconda Blue and the Indore Pears, worn by the Maharani of Indore memorialized in a portrait by Bernard Boutet de Monvel.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar also collaborated with other iconic jewellers, 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.
Now, over a century later, this legendary blue diamond comes to auction for the very first time, set as a striking contemporary ring by the celebrated Parisian designer JAR.