The Golconda Blue – Christie’s

The Golconda Blue, the largest Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond ever, will be offered at auction by Christie’s. Weighing an extraordinary 23.24 carats, this superb historic gemstone will headline Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, taking place live on 14 May 2025 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, with an estimate of $35 – 50 million. The Golconda Blue, perfectly mounted in a ring by JAR, is a true masterpiece with its recently uncovered royal provenance, mesmerizing color, and sensational size.  It ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered throughout history.

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 jewelry.

In 1913, his father acquired the famed Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet, 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 as his official jeweler in 1933.  Thereafter, Mauboussin reimagined much of the 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 (illustrated on top of release).

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.