‘Archduke Joseph diamond’ sold at world record price of $ 21.5 million

November 17, 2012

‘Archduke Joseph diamond’

A 19th century rare 76 carat diamond Indian diamond.
Named after its first owner Archduke Joseph August of Austria.
Sold at world record price of $ 21.5 million (about Rs. 118 crore) at an auction in Geneva.
The diamond mined from erstwhile Golconda kingdom.

Connection with Koh-i-noor and Hope diamonds:

Archduke Joseph diamond shares the same lineage as the other two world famous diamonds: Koh-i-noor and Hope as the 3 diamonds were mined from Golconda or Kollur mines and left Indian shores many years ago.
Some of the best diamonds of the world were mined in ‘Kollur’ on the banks of Krishna river in the present day Krishna and Guntur districts that formed part of the Golconda Kingdom. It operated b/w the 16th and the mid 19th centuries.
Apart from mines, ‘Golconda’ was a big trading centre for diamond and gems in the east.
As in those times only India was having such mines, the Europeans had this belief that diamonds were only found in Golconda mines and thus an entire class of precious stones that ‘do not have nitrogen’ are described as ‘Golconda diamonds’.

Apart from the Kollur Mine, the Paritala, Gollapally, Mallavally, Ramallakota, and Banganapally were extremely prolific mines in India during this period.

Some of the other famous diamonds excavated from the Golconda mines are

Archduke Joseph diamond
Koh-i-noor
Hope
Darya-ye Noor ( the largest at 185 carats and the finest among the crown jewels of Iran)
Nur-Ul- Ain
The Regent
The Wittelsbach
Dresden Green Diamond
The Orlov

Koh-i-noor is among the British Crown Queen Jewels and the Hope diamond is displayed in the Smithsonian Institute in U.S.

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