Diamond Necklaces

London, October 2: Super-rich NRIs from all over the world have been flooding a London auction house with inquiries about the forthcoming sale of a fabulous Art Deco emerald, diamond and rock crystal necklace that once belonged to the Maharaja of Kapurthala.

Christie's auctioneers, who are selling the necklace, are characteristically discreet about potential purchasers but they have disclosed that the necklace once graced the neck of a teenage Spanish dancer called Anita Delgado from Malaga who captured the heart of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh.

The 1925 necklace is estimated to sell for prices up to £100,000

The couple were wed in 1907, one year after Anita caught the Maharaja’s eye during his visit to Spain in 1906 to attend the marriage of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg. Anita became Jagatjit Singh’s fifth Maharani and was known as Prem Kaur until her divorce in 1925.

The centrepiece of the necklace given to her for her 19th birthday is a crescent-shaped emerald surrounded by diamonds that was previously used as a decoration for Jagatjit Singh’s favourite elephant.

Originally set as a brooch, its sale price is estimated at upto £100,000. Another early 20th century diamond and ruby pendent necklace, valued at between £40,000-50,000, is designed as a stylized basket of flowers, with a later Art Deco diamond-link neck-chain with ruby spacers, epitomizing the dynamic line synonymous with this popular period.

More items up for sale from the collection include a pair of geometric, sapphire and diamond clips, valued at £10,000-£15,000, a ruby and diamond clip brooch from 1925, valued at between £5,000-8,000, two pairs of diamond ear pendants and an emerald bracelet band valued at between £20,000 and £30,000.

The Maharani had one son, Ajit Singh, who died in 1982. Her own marriage to the Maharaja ended in divorce. According to the author of a recently published book about the Kapurthala couple, their marriage ended in divorce after the Maharani fell in love with one of the Maharaja’s sons from a previous marriage. This claim has been denied by the Maharaja’s descendants who have been trying to block the making of a film about Delgado starring Penelope Cruz.

Christie’s estimates their total value at more than £200,000. Said Christie’s international director of Asian art Amin Jaffer: “These jewels are a symbol of cross-cultural love and taste, bringing together Indian princely patronage with the finest European craftsmanship and design.

auctioneers, who are selling the necklace, are characteristically discree about potential purchasers but they have disclosed that the necklace once graced the neck of a teenage Spanish dancer called Anita Delgado from Malaga who captured the heart of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh.

The 1925 necklace is estimated to sell for prices up to £100,000

The couple were wed in 1907, one year after Anita caught the Maharaja’s eye during his visit to Spain in 1906 to attend the marriage of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg. Anita became Jagatjit Singh’s fifth Maharani and was known as Prem Kaur until her divorce in 1925.

The centrepiece of the necklace given to her for her 19th birthday is a crescent-shaped emerald surrounded by diamonds that was previously used as a decoration for Jagatjit Singh’s favourite elephant.

Originally set as a brooch, its sale price is estimated at upto £100,000. Another early 20th century diamond and ruby pendent necklace, valued at between £40,000-50,000, is designed as a stylized basket of flowers, with a later Art Deco diamond-link neck-chain with ruby spacers, epitomizing the dynamic line synonymous with this popular period.

More items up for sale from the collection include a pair of geometric, sapphire and diamond clips, valued at £10,000-£15,000, a ruby and diamond clip brooch from 1925, valued at between £5,000-8,000, two pairs of diamond ear pendants and an emerald bracelet band valued at between £20,000 and £30,000.

The Maharani had one son, Ajit Singh, who died in 1982. Her own marriage to the Maharaja ended in divorce. According to the author of a recently published book about the Kapurthala couple, their marriage ended in divorce after the Maharani fell in love with one of the Maharaja’s sons from a previous marriage. This claim has been denied by the Maharaja’s descendants who have been trying to block the making of a film about Delgado starring Penelope Cruz.

Christie’s estimates their total value at more than £200,000. Said Christie’s international director of Asian art Amin Jaffer: “These jewels are a symbol of cross-cultural love and taste, bringing together Indian princely patronage with the finest European craftsmanship and design.

40 CT Famous Diamond fetch 7 million $

A stunner in every way, the gem meets the criteria for a near-perfect stone. The sophistication of the stone is reserved for the finest diamonds, reminiscent of important stones found in the fabled mines of India's Golcondo region and several other mines in Brazil and South Africa.

The gem has perfect symmetry with a cut so precise it can stand completely balanced on its pointed end or cutlet. In addition, the diamond has no traces of colorant nitrogen, the characteristic that gives the stone such transparency and sparkle. Only 2% of all diamonds lack this chemical.

"The old-world charm of this beautiful gem, along with a softness to its cut and its superb brilliance, ranks it among some of the most sensational diamonds to have appeared for sale at Christie's, such as the historical Polar Star, to [which] it bears a striking resemblance," said Rahul Kadakia, head of Jewelry Americas at Christie's.

The Polar Star diamond is one of the most famous diamonds in the world, having been owned by Russian royalty until its sale to the House of Cartier in the 1920s, and later selling at Christie's Geneva in 1980 for $5.1 million, a huge sum at the time.

Artfact Analysis:

Christie's sold $50 million worth of fine jewelry on April 16, making it the most valuable jewelry auction ever held in the U.S. Ten jewels sold for over $1 million each, and diamonds stole the show across the board.

The sale of this diamond bolstered overall confidence in the global trade for high-end gems. Last week, there was a moment of concern when Sotheby's failed to sell a 75.22-carat, "D" flawless white diamond in Asia, though the gem was sold to a private buyer after the auction for an undisclosed sum. The pre-auction estimate was $10 million to $12 million, and the final price was likely not far off the asking price.

The next comparable diamond to hit the auction block is Christie's 101-carat, near flawless, golf-ball-sized diamond, scheduled for sale in Hong Kong next month. The asking price will be around $6 million. There is every indication that the sale will be a success.

Last year, Sotheby's sold a stunning 84-carat white diamond for $16.2 million to Guess! Jeans founder George Marciano, who named it the "Chloe Diamond" after his 12-year-old daughter. The diamond was the second most expensive stone or piece of jewelry ever sold at auction, falling just short of the $16.5 million fetched by a 100-carat diamond at the same Sotheby's branch in Geneva in May 1995.

Pakistan: Diamonds in the rough

A traditional form of jewellery and decorative dress, Asian bangles are an internationally popular fashion accessory. The colourful bracelets are generally made of precious and non-precious metals, plastic, wood and glass, and decorated with precious or semi-precious stones.

The Pakistani city of Hyderabad, on the banks of the River Indus in Sindh province, is the largest bangle producer in the world. The industry employs almost 900,000 people. But the size of the industry and the colour and beauty of the bangles belies the true cost of their production.

Packed into the narrow lanes of Hyderabad's Chori Para district, rows of tin huts extend into the distance, housing hundreds of labourers working over primitive furnaces with little provision for hygiene or safety. Working in extreme heat using antiquated tools, men with only dirty rags to protect their hands clutch iron rods dripping molten glass, hurrying amid their co-workers to transport it while still hot. Clouds of toxic chemicals hang in the air. Unsurprisingly, ill health and respiratory conditions are rife .

Working for very low wages, typically less than US$0.07 a day, the bangle-makers are nevertheless expected to buy their own equipment and materials. The majority of the manufacturing process takes place in the factory itself, but finishing touches such as straightening, soldering joints, and decorating are completed in homes, often by girls as young as eight who frequently work around the clock.

Home for many is nothing more than a sparse, shared room. In Chori Para, an average 15 to 20 people dwell in each house. Regina, 28, lives with her family in a single room, where she also works as a "dipper" – dipping plastic bangles into tins of paint.

She explains: "A basket of bangles takes me half an hour to paint and I make between two and 3 rupees [2p] for a basketful. I start at 8am and work throughout the day. I never finish until about 11pm."

Regina has five children, four of whom are in full-time education. Her husband Siddiq is employed in a workshop on the other side of the district. When school finishes in the afternoons, the older children help their mother with her work.

In January of this year, ActionAid launched a project in Hyderabad to provide health and safety training, clean and safe day care centres for young children, and cooperatives to increase women's economic power.

The situation appears to be improving, the charity says. The home-workers enjoy the cooperatives, which afford them the opportunity to be part of a community. Some women bring their work to the cooperative centres, and benefit from the support of leadership circles and study groups.