First on the Famous Collections List

The Maharajahs

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

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, jewels 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 a collection of tapestries made entirely of Natural Pearls into which were woven ornate designs of rubies and emeralds.

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. 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, Jai Singh, could choose. Even so, he did not do without.

His jewels included a triple-stringed necklace of red spinels, the stones having been contributed by various Mughal emperors, each bigger than a pigeon's egg, along with three huge emeralds, the largest of which weighed 490 cts!

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' Legendary 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. You can take a glimpse of them on youtube here.

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 emeralds, diamonds from Golconda mines, Burmese rubies and spinels and pearls from Basra and India.

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 Jewels

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.

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.

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