Indian royal jewels fetch high prices

An auction of Indian royal jewellery at the Christie’s auction house in New York realised very high prices for its first few lots. The items included a 17-carat Golconda diamond “Arcot II”, once owned by the Nawab of Arcot, that sold for a stunning USD 3,375,000 (INR 235 million).

The sale also included an antique diamond riviere necklace, once owned by the Nizams of Hyderabad, which sold for USD 2,415,000 (nearly INR 170 million).

The 33-diamond necklace had been originally estimated to sell for USD1,500,000 (nearly INR 105 million), Christie’s announced on Twitter. The auction, titled “Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence,” had on offer 400 royal objects from The Al Thani Collection of the Qatar royal family.

Global auction house Christie’s earlier said that this collection is poised to be the most valuable auction of jewellery and jewelled objects. The current auction record is held by The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, which totalled USD144 million in 2011.

The auction had started with the ‘Indore Sapphire Taveez Bead Pendant Necklace, Mounted By Cartier’ that owes its provenance to Indore’s Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II, who was educated in England and spent much of his time abroad with his wife. The royal necklace reached a price of USD 206,250 (INR 14.4 million), surpassing a high estimate of USD60,000 (INR 4.2 million), Christie’s said on in a tweet.