The Famous Collections List

The Maharajahs

Many of the most famous collections of jewels on earth belonged to India's princes - The Maharajahs.....

Click HERE to Go to the Jewelry Collection of the Passengers on the Titanic

Click HERE to go to the Kremlin Diamond and Jewelry Collection

Click HERE to go to the Jewelry of Umm Khalthum

Click HERE to go to the Duchess of Windsor Collection

Click HERE to go to the Imperial Faberge Eggs

Click HERE to go to Famous Engagement Rings

God, according to Kipling, created the Maharajahs to offer mankind an incomparable spectacle. And what a spectacle it was!

Although sport and sex were the preferred pastimes, we know from the history of jewelry that Indian Gold jewelry and Natural Pearls were the Maharajahs ultimate passion.

The Maharajah of Baroda's court tunic was spun from gold in India, with only one family in his state allowed to weave its threads.

Among his most precious treasures were the famous collections of tapestries made entirely of Natural Pearls into which were woven ornate designs of rubies and emerald gemstones.

Jaipur's maharajah lorded over one of the largest and richest of India's princely states. Somewhere in the Jaigarh fort, on a peak above the palace, the treasure of Indian jewels of the Jaipur princes lay buried, guarded by an especially belligerent Rajput tribe, the Minas.

Once per lifetime, each maharajah was allowed to visit the treasure and select a single item.

Man Singh chose from the private treasure a bird of solid gold studded with rubies of extraordinary fire, so heavy that a woman could hardly lift it.

Unfortunately, independence came before the last maharajah, India’s most dashing prince, Man Singh II, (Jai Singh) the polo-playing Maharaja of Jaipur, known to everyone as “Jai” had time to choose.

However Jai Singh didn't do too badly. One of the most famous collections in the world, the rocks of the Raj included a triple-stringed necklace of incredible red gemstones, these red spinels having been contributed by various Mughal emperors, each bigger than a pigeon's egg, along with three huge green emerald gemstones, the largest of which weighed 490 cts!

It was inevitable that, with independence in 1947 and the rise of the socialist Congress party, this rarefied world of extravagant excess should come to an end.

But even India’s princes, who had negotiated with Mountbatten to keep their titles and income, were shocked at the speed of their loss of privileges.

Mrs Gandhi declared war on them when she was prime minister, eventually stripping them of their state revenues in the 1970s. Even so, he did not do without.

Among the world's greatest polo players, Jai Singh died in appropriate form, atop his polo pony, one of the three richest men in England.

Nizams' Collection

One of the most famous collections of gemstones and jewellery was acquired by the Indian government in 1995.

Sometimes worn but never shown, these jewels once belonged to the Indian princes: the Nizams' of Hyderabad.

Presiding over one of the largest states (half the size of France), their dominion included Golconda, in former times the world's diamond center.

The ornaments date from the early 18th century to the early 20th century.

Finely crafted from gold and silver and highlighted with exquisite enameling, the jewels are set with Colombian emerald gemstones, diamonds from Golconda mines, burmese rubies and spinels and pearls from Basra and India.

To find out the meaning of gemstones click here.

Though only a fraction of the legendary wealth of Asaf Jah dynasty, the collection is breathtaking when translated into gem weight. Are you ready? There are 25,000 diamonds weighing in excess of 12,000 carats.

More than 2,000 emeralds weighing over 10,000 carats and pearls exceeding 40,000 chows.

Among the titles of the seventh Nizam, Sir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, were included "Regulator of the Country, Victorious in Battle, the Aristotle of his Age, Shadow of God and Faithful Ally of the British."

While Osman Ali may not have been the world's richest man, he certainly qualified as the world's greatest miser.

His wealth included two lime-sized diamonds of over 180 cts each; among the diamond collection were the Nizam Diamond and the Jacob Diamond (100 cts) but in keeping with his frugal nature, one was used as a paperweight.

Amongst the Nizam's famous collections was a pearl collection, said to be so vast that it alone would cover the sidewalks of Piccadilly Circus and he owned over seventy million dollars in gold.

But despite his vast assets and famous collections of jewels, visitors to the palace would be presented with only one cup of tea, one biscuit, and one cigarette.

After they left, the Nizam would drink any remaining tea, eat the crumbs of the biscuit and smoke the cigarette butts to the end.

Over ten million dollars in cash was stashed in his basement, earning negative interest, as rats gnawed their way through thousands each year.

Ingesting OR Investing Jewelry?

In India astronomy, their are special meanings of gemstones and each gemstone should be carefully chosen to precisely match the qualities of the person.

“Indians are very superstitious about gems,” explains Munnu Kasliwal. “If anyone buys a stolen stone or acquires it wrongly, it will curse them. We have a saying, ‘Someone who steals gems will lose his eyesight.’”

No maharajah followed this system better than an early maharajah of Mysore.

Informed that the finest aphrodisiacs contained crushed diamonds, he succeeded in quickly depleting the state treasuries most famous collections in his princely quest for potence.

References:

1. This account of the maharajahs is based largely on 1. Lord (1971), Collins & Lapierre (1975) and Allen & Dwivedi (1984) and 2. Bala Krishna, Ush R., The Jewels of the Nizams, India Book House, Suffolk, 2001.

2. Munni Kasliwal of Gem Palace in Made for Maharajas, by Amin Jaffer, 2006, New Holland.

Return to the top of Famous Collections

Return to Antique Jewelry Investor Home Page