diamond necklaces prices
Diamond, rock crystal necklace that once graced Anita Delgado among the
200,000-pound jewels up for auction.
Kapurthala’s jewels: Spanish dancer to Christie’s hammer
By Shyam Bhatia found at indianexpress.com
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.”
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