The exquisite Patiala necklace that belonged to the Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, India, mysteriously disappeared in 1948 but resurfaced 50 years later! The necklace was in fact created for him by the prestigious House of Cartier in 1928, and is regarded even today as one of the most expensive pieces of jewelry ever made.
Famous for its exquisite brilliance and extraordinary design, it had five rows of platinum chains encrusted with 2,930 diamonds, including the world’s seventh largest DeBeers diamond. However, after this famous necklace disappeared in 1948, it was recovered by a representative of Cartier, Eric Nussbaum, 50 years later in London.
When the necklace was traced in 1998, all that was left of it were the chains and some original stones. Alas, gone were the original Burmese rubies and the equally genuine De Beers diamond that gave the necklace its exquisiteness and rarity.
According to informed sources, Cartier took three years to make the necklace and so exquisite was it that the jeweler asked the maharaja for permission to display it before shipping it to India. Immediately, Cartier bought it and restored the art deco period piece to its original beauty by using old techniques and replacing the original stones.
However, the first diamond necklace that Europe ever saw was made of stones so rough that when Charles VII of France presented it to Agnes Sorel, her soft neck felt the piercing prick of the sharp corners of the necklace to such an extent that she commented that it was her punishment or carcan to wear it. Hence the name carcanet for a diamond necklace. Since then, diamond necklaces weren’t looked upon favorably until the French Revolution when a diamond necklace was called a riviere. And of course, Marie Antoinette’s diamond necklace is but another story.
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