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| 18.8 ct Golconda diamond “Arcot II”retailjewellerindia.com |
These two superior quality diamonds were of Golconda origin mined in Kollur mines (now defunct and is in Andhra state) and initially owned by the royal family of Arcot nawab whose capital was Arcot, a small town near Chennai (Madras). The rulers were allies of the English company with whom they had military alliance. It is mentioned that Nawab Azim-ud-Daula, was presumably the first recorded owner and was the one who in 1777 made a nazrana, a sort of gift to the English rulers as a taken of his appreciation of their military help when he was facing threats from neighboring rulers. The above interpretation is not accepted by many historians. According to some Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Walajah who had a close rapport with the EIC gifted all the five diamonds to the British. It included five diamonds to Queen Charlotte and two of these stones were the great pear-shaped diamonds. The Nawab gave this gift to the British for their help during his tumultuous period while ruling the land.
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| Arcot diamonds set in a brooch/internetstones.com |
Above image Arcot diamond pair according to Ian Balfour vide his book ''Famous Diamonds'' describes the tiara as:
....................'' of bandeau form, together with the round brilliant and no less than 1421 smaller diamonds. The tiara was pierced to form a design of pavè-set scrolls with arcading, and with clusters of naiveté-shaped diamonds between the sections, tapering slightly at the sides, with baguette diamond banding framing the large center stone and with diamond baguettes dispersed singly throughout the ornament''. The diamonds were separable and could be removed and worn from a bar brooch .............
Upon Queen Charlotte’s death in 1818, instead of handing over his mother's vast collection of jewelry to his sisters including the diamonds, King George IV took possession of his father's estate along with mother's jewelry. He also had a royal crown commissioned for him decorated with Arcot diamonds. Later the crown was remade for Queen Adelaide, consort of William !V.
After the demise in 1834 of King George IV, for unknown reasons, jewelers Rundell & Bridge was entrusted with the job of selling the diamonds as per the wish of Queen Charlotte. At the sale proceedings at Willis’s Room in St. James’s, London on July 20, 1837 the Arcots, along with a round brilliant diamond (believed to be the infamous Hastings – and the Nassak diamond) were all sold to the first Marquess of Westminster for £11,000. As the time went by famous stones became part of what was called the Westminster Tiara specifically made by Parisian jeweler Lacloche for the Marquess’ family.
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| Westminster Arcot diamonds. .pinterest.ch |
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| King George IV of England. artuk.org |
The famous Westminster Tiara was put up for sale in 1959 by the third Duke of Westminster under compelling financial strains. The Duke had to pay heavy taxes on his estates. At the auction held by Sotheby’s and Harry Winston the diamond went to the high bidder at £110,000. Dismantling the tiara, Winston recut the stones to improve their clarity and brilliance and consequently the final weight of the two stones became 30.99 carats and 18.85 carats respectively. The famous pair was split into two different pieces.
Arcot diamonds were sold separately as rings, the larger stone, now known as Arcot I, was purchased in 1959 while the smaller one, now labeled the Arcot II, found its new owner in 1960. Both the bidders were Americans. The larger stone later reappeared as a pendant in a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace. In November 1993 it was sold to at Christie’s, Geneva. Sheikh Ahmed Hassan Fitaihi of Saudi Arabi, became the new owner of the Arcot I and he paid a record price of £918,243 to get its possession, a legacy of Arcot Nawabs.
As for “Arcot II” of the Nawab of Carnatic that was possessed by Queen Charlotte of the British royal family, it was sold for a whooping sum of Rs 23.5 crore ($3,375,00). at the New York auction of 2019. The auction titled “Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence” had on offer 400 royal objects from the Al Thani Collection of Qatar’s royal family; most of the pieces were once owned by the famous Indian royal families.
