The Amazing Jewels of The Nawab of Hyderabad @ Jewel Info 4 U
By: Ms Nandita Ray
The Jewels belonging to the Royal
family of Hyderabad is a fantastic
collection of ornaments, loose
precious stones, especially emeralds
and amazing variety of artifacts.
The collection of jewels is one of
the most expensive in the world. In
1992 this collection was bought over
by the government of India from the
Nizam's family. In 2001 it was
displayed to the public for the
first time. This exhibition took
place in Delhi where all the 173
pieces were displayed. The Jewels
have inspired many famous creations
by famous designers like Cartier.
And why not? Noted jewelry expert
and craftsman D. Gazdar called them,
'specimens of a lost art and further
stressed, 'finest collection of
Eastern jewelry in the world". While
the world other comment comes from
equally famous gemstone expert and
trader H. Rosenthal of Paris, 'were
quite simply, out of this world". He
was talking about the Nizams loose
and uncut gems.
History: - The Nizams of
Hyderabad, ruled from 1724 till
1948. When India gained independence
the prevailing Nizam Osman Ali Khan,
Asaf Jha VII acceded to the new
Government of India. Their famous
jewelry collection which formed a
part of their enormous wealth and
prestige and was built over the
period that they ruled was bought
over by the Indian Government at a
paltry sum of 2.18 millions. It was
and still is valued more than that.
This purchase was as a result of the
debts and taxes owed by the Nizam's
to the government of India. Today
the jewels are locked up in the
vaults of the Reserve Bank of India,
Mumbai.
 The
Nizam who was once considered the
richest man in the world also lost
most of his fortune to legal
wrangles between family members. The
Time magazine called the Nizam the
richest man in the world. Hyderabad
once the richest princely state of
India built its wealth on trade of
gold, diamonds and pearls. The
streets of 'Pathargatti' facilitated
the passage of huge quantities of
diamonds and pearls. Though diamonds
like Hope, Regent, and Kohinoor have
been mined from the Golconda mines
Hyderabad is called the city of
Pearls.
Ornaments: - They follow a
mixture of Muslim and Indian
craftsmanship with a distinct
leaning towards the Southern 'Deccani'
workmanship acquired from the 'Vijaynagar'
Kingdom. Gold and silver work
embedded with uncut diamonds and
edged with silver 'kundan' or just
gold and silver work with diamonds
and tear drop emeralds with enameled
work on the back. Intricate Mughal
designs or lacy web like designs or
the traditional Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka or 'Tamilnadu' influence
is widely evident in these heavy
ornaments. It's also a mixture of
western influence and indigenous
style.
The collection consists of rare
pieces of untold value and history.
Many of the jewels were stored in
huge crates to cardboard shoe boxes.
There are photographs of the 7th
'Nizam' and his many wives with huge
chunky ornaments which are all
diamond encrusted. There are 30
cabinets each filled with kilos of
gold and diamond jewelry, diamond
being the widely used stone by the
Nizams, since most of them came from
the Golconda mines, which has been
the only supplier to the world till
the beginning of the eighteenth
century. A royal injunction
compelled the miners to donate the
best stones to the Nizam. Most of
the diamonds are flawless However it
is believed that the Nizam purchased
rubies from Burma. Emeralds are the
next favorite stone to be used by
the Nizam and as suggested green
being the color of the Muslims, it
has been widely used. Most emeralds
are in their natural uncut form.
They are king sized tear drop in
shaped and came all the way from
Bolivia.
The pearls came all the way from
Gulf of 'Mannar' in Ceylon and Basra
in Arabian Sea coast.
The use of 'Navratan',
the nine stones representing the
nine planets is basically Hindu in
origin but was a favorite with the
Nizams. It is believed that the
entire collection of Pearls in the
Nizam's collective collection could
fill up an Olympic size swimming
pool.
 The
uncut Jacob Diamond, the size of a
duck's egg, is one of the seven
biggest diamonds in the world. It
weighs 184.75 carats and was once
used as a paper weight by the Nizam.
It is considered a 'non-violent'
diamond since it has changed hands
only twice. It was bought in 1891
and possibly mined in 1867 ago from
the mining giant country Africa. It
is believed that the Italian born
diamond dealer sold the diamond to 'Meheboob'
Ali Pasha, the 6th Nizam of
Hyderabad in 1891. It is also
believed that this transaction led
to legal problem and disputes and
criminal proceedings and the Nizam
had to appear before a commission.
This blatant act of calling a Ruler
before a commission angered and
disgusted the Nizam so much that he
kept the diamond as a pebble. In
fact it was discovered by his son,
the 7th 'nizam' in his slippers.
This diamond is much larger than the
Kohinoor and is known as
Imperial Diamond or Great White
diamond or Victoria diamond. It is a
colorless stone and does not belong
to any particular class because not
a single hint of yellow nor any
impurities like nitrogen are
present. It glows bluish green in
the dark. It is the 8th largest
diamond in D color in rectangular
cushion shape in the universe. It is
not evenly centered and one side of
the girdle is flat. The finished gem
has 58 facets and measures 39.5mm
long, 29.25 mm wide and 22.5mm deep.
A seven strand pearl necklace
strung with 150 large and 230 small
pearls. It has two diamond pendants
attached to it. The lustrous pearls
are from Basra. Another satlada
pearl necklace has 465 in it.
A pair of bracelets with 270
diamonds studded in it is one of the
many bracelets and arm lets that
have adorned the Nizams and their
wives. Heavy and set with huge uncut
diamonds called Polki diamonds with
enamel work and lined with silver
edging.
Emeralds weighing 414.25 carats,
some are uncut and most of them un
mounted. There are 22 unset pieces
of emeralds and their collected
value is the most expensive and
weigh a couple of thousands carats
and are in various shapes and sizes
and very ornamental in appearance.
There is a diamond studded belt
made by Oscar Massi Pieres, the
French designer. This diamond belt
carries a total 640 carats in
diamond weight. Another belt,
ceremonial weighs 1.5 grams and
totally covered with diamonds. These
belts which formed a part of their
ceremonial attire were called patta
tilai. The buckles resemble south
Indian hair ornaments. There is a
belt buckle which has 146 stones.
There are numerous rings,
brooches, buttons, studded swords,
gold biscuits, anklets, cufflinks,
and nose rings, watch chains, which
are heavily jeweled and intricately
decorated.
A pair of Burmese rubies earrings
set with diamonds takes your breath
away. The rubies are big and glowing
like fire while the cool diamonds
showers its myriad hues. The
diamonds are from the Golconda
mines. These diamonds like the other
were probably a part of the Nazrana
given to the Nizam for an audience.
A pendant studded with a 200
carat emerald drop weighing 225
carats.
Head gear and head gear ornaments
have a special place in this
collection since all the Nizams wore
these ornaments on their head gear.
Plumes of pearls or a spray of
diamonds and emeralds or crests of
navratan are some of the strikingly
elaborate and exquisite pieces in
serrated design. Sarpech, as these
were called are also shaped like
enameled birds or feathers covered
with uncut diamonds or mixed with
rubies or emeralds.
The Nizam of Hyderabad's well
celebrated Diamond parure presented
to the Queen of England on her
durbar celebrations.
An Alexandrite ring gifted by
Auranzeb to one of the Nizams in
1700, set in gold is full of untold
history. It was a personal gift to
the nizam who was his commander in
chief then called Mir Qamaruddin
late father Jung and Arif Jah 1st
Nizam of Hyderabad. This ring was
Roman in origin with a superior
quality Alexandrite. It has the
ability to change color from emerald
green in natural light to bluish red
in artificial light.
A double strand diamond necklace
came with the annexation of the
Bijapur kingdom.
Necklaces of the Nizams and wives
are large and chunky. Made of gold
and encrusted with gems of different
colors, emeralds and rubies and
diamonds and some were embedded with
navratans, the nine precious gems.
Some of the necklaces weighed a kilo
each. Some had serrated edges laced
with a web like motif while others
are edged with drop pearls or
emeralds. Some following the Deccani
style have enameled work on the
reverse.
There is also in the possession the
Historic crown of rubies, which was
a gift from the King of Persia, Shah
Abbas., presented to the Nizam of
Hyderabad Asaf Jah.
Interesting Facts: -
The Nizam of Hyderabad, the last
Official Ruler , Fath Jang Nawab Mir
Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII was the
richest man in the 1940's, having a
fortune estimated around 2 billion$.
Forbes magazine, named him the Fifth
on "All Time Wealthiest" list. He
had an annual income of $10,000,000.
The Nizam personally carried the key
to his hidden vaults for 50 long
years. Bundles of different shapes
and sizes remain lying around
indicating the careless manner in
which the jewels were stored.
The famous Salarjung Museum which
also displays some of the fantastic
collection of the Nizam was
constructed and the product of one
man- Yusuf Ali Salar Jung, the Prime
Minister to the Nizam.
Mukkhar Jah, the eight Nizam lives
in a two room apartment in Turkey.
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