Patiala Necklace

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala wearing the famous ʽPatiala Necklaceʼ1930s

The Patiala Necklace was a necklace created by the House of Cartier in 1928.^{[citation needed]} It was made for Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, who was the Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala.^{[citation needed]}

The necklace had five chains (ladi) and included a neck collar.

The necklace 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

The necklace disappeared from the Royal Treasury of Patiala around 1948.^{[citation needed]}

In 1982, at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva, the "De Beers" diamond reappeared. There, the bidding went up to $3.16 million, but it is unclear whether it met its reserve price.^[3]

In 1998, part of the necklace was found at a second-hand jewellery shop in London by Eric Nussbaum, a Cartier associate.^{[citation needed]} The remaining large jewels were missing, including the Burmese rubies and the 18 to 73 carat diamonds that were mounted on a pendant. Cartier purchased the incomplete necklace and, after four years, restored it to resemble the original. They replaced the lost diamonds with cubic zirconia and synthetic diamonds, and mounted a replica of the original "De Beers" diamond.^[4][5][6]

The necklace is the subject of a documentary by Doc & Film International.^[7]

A granddaughter of Bhupinder Singh of Patiala is now a jeweller ^[8] in California. She was involved in an exhibit "Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts" at the Asian Art Museum, where the recreated necklace was displayed.

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