Feeling blue is passé, especially after one look at The Golconda Blue, the largest Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond ever to be offered at auction. Your new favorite color will be blue forever, thanks to this exquisite 23.24-carat gemstone, set to go under the hammer at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale on May 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva. Estimated at a staggering $35 million to $50 million, this glorious diamond isn’t just big on size, it’s bursting with history and glamor.
While the ideal scenario would be to nestle this beauty into the crater of your palm and admire it all day long, for the sake of sanity and safety, it has been mounted on a ring created by the iconic JAR. As the world gets a taste of extravagance by merely gazing at this sparkling marvel, it’s worth remembering that The Golconda Blue has already graced royalty. According to WWD, the Maharani of Indore, Sanyogitabai Devi, once wore this same diamond in an Art Deco Mauboussin sautoir, as seen in a stunning portrait by artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881–1949).
According to the pages of history, it was in March 1923 that Joseph Chaumet was visited at Place Vendôme by Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the Maharaja of Indore. He acquired two incredibly rare pear-shaped white diamonds weighing 46.70 and 46.95 carats. Along with these, he also selected a diamond bracelet featuring a 23.24-carat pear-shaped blue diamond of extraordinary color, straight from the Maharaja’s collection. A decade later, Mauboussin reimagined the stone into a necklace for the Maharani, which lives on in Monvel’s timeless portrait.
Chaumet’s records confirm every glittering detail of the order, cementing this gem’s place among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered. After adding oodles of charm to Indian royalty, the diamond was acquired in 1947 by Harry Winston, who later sold it as a brooch to the Maharaja of Baroda. Over time, this precious gem has been reacquired and resold umpteen times, but all that matters now is the moment that awaits another lucky buyer.
The Golconda Blue is in a league of its own. It belongs to the same hallowed circle as the Agra Diamond, the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, and the legendary Koh-i-Noor, gems so iconic that even royalty seems like a footnote.
A stone of this caliber, size, and price would naturally attract a high-net-worth individual. I can only think of Nita Ambani, wife of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, who already owns several such coveted pieces. Or maybe Jeff Bezos, who has his wedding coming up this June, this diamond would make quite the unforgettable gift for his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. After all, $50 million is pocket change for these tycoons.
