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| Evening star diamond from Golconda mine. justcollecting.com |
This diamond from the private collection came up for auction - “Magnificent Jewels from a Distinguished Private Collector” at the famous Christie's, a time-honoured auction house and is well known for presenting some of the most rare and priceless jewels in its auctions, especially from the Indian subcontinent. Special attention was given to this stone - The Evening Star Diamond because it came from the India's ancient Golconda mines, the source of many of the world's exceptional diamonds, including the Hope Diamond, Koh-i-Noor, etc.
As expected both the “Evening Star” and the stones used in the matching earrings -Type IIa diamonds that possesses the exceptional clarity associated with Golconda diamonds took the people and the bidders by surprise at the auction. The Evening Star went under hammer for whopping $5.4 million at the auction house. According to Christie’s the Wittelsbach diamond (from Golconda) holds the record for a jewel sold at auction -$24.3 million at its 2008 London sale. Indeed, a mind-boggling price for a big piece of hardened carbon. What a way to establish ones status and affluence in this transient world?
In the 19th century, particularly toward the end, ‘Golconda’ (west of Hyderabad city, Telengana, India) became associated with diamond mines or source of exceptional wealth, quite similar to El Dorado.
http://www.idexonline.com/FullArticle?Id=33207ening events and galas.