Patiala Necklace

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala wearing the famous "Patiala Necklace" (1930s)

The Patiala Necklace was a necklace designed and made by Cartier in 1928.[1] It was part of the largest ever single order to Cartier to date, made in 1925 by the Indian royal, the Maharaja of Patiala, for the Patiala Necklace and other jewelry worth ₹1,000 million (equivalent to ₹210 billion, US$2.6 billion or €2.6 billion in 2023).[2]

The necklace had five chains (ladi) and included a neck collar. It contained 2,930 diamonds, including as its centrepiece the world's seventh-largest diamond at the time, the "De Beers". That diamond had a 428 carat pre-cut weigh, and it weighed 234.65 carats in its final setting.[3] It is the largest cushion-cut yellow diamond and the 2nd largest yellow faceted diamond in the world. The necklace also contained seven other large diamonds ranging from 18 to 73 carats, and a number of Burmese rubies.[4]

  1. ^ Miller, Nick (3 January 2023). "What Happened to the Patiala Necklace and Was it Ever Found?". Discovery UK. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  2. ^ From Bahadur Shah Zafar to the Nizam of Hyderabad, a jewellery brand for the royals Archived 2023-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, The Print, 5 Nov 2022.
  3. ^ Saha, Pradip Kumar (30 November 2011). "Bhupinder Singh's necklace". www.livemint.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  4. ^ "The incredible history of the Maharaja of Patiala's Necklace" (PDF). Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)