DiamondBuzz
Christie’s present The Golconda Blue:the largest fancy vivid blue diamond offered at auction
Christie’s is proud to present The Golconda Blue—the largest Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond ever to be offered at auction. Weighing an extraordinary 23.24 carats, this superb historic gemstone will headline Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, taking place live on 14 May 2025 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, with an estimate of $35 – 50 million. The Golconda Blue, perfectly mounted in a ring by JAR, is a true masterpiece with its recently uncovered royal provenance, mesmerizing colour, and sensational size. It ranks among the rarest and most important diamonds ever discovered throughout history.
This exceptional pear-shaped Golconda diamond boasts a remarkable provenance rooted in Indian Royalty. Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the Maharaja of Indore and a member of the Holkar dynasty, was known—alongside his wife—for a lifestyle defined by elegance and cosmopolitan sophistication in the 1920s and ’30s. A Knight of the Order of the Indian Empire, the Maharaja spent much of his time abroad, cultivating a strong affinity for Western art, design, and jewellery.
In 1913, his father acquired the famed Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet, marking the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the historic Parisian Maison. In 1923, during another visit to Chaumet, he commissioned a diamond bracelet set with his own 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond.
Drawn to the firm’s avant-garde flare, Yeshwant Rao Holkar appointed Mauboussin as his official jeweler in 1933. Thereafter, Mauboussin reimagined much of the Maharaja’s collection and created the exceptional necklace including the Golconda Blue and the Indore Pears, worn by the Maharani of Indore memorialized in a portrait by Bernard Boutet de Monvel (illustrated on top of release).
Yeshwant Rao Holkar also collaborated with other iconic jewelers, including Harry Winston. In 1946, Mr. Winston purchased the Indore Pears from the Maharaja, and the following year, in January 1947, he acquired this 23-carat blue diamond. Winston later set it in a brooch alongside a matching 23-carat white diamond, which he sold to the Maharaja of Baroda. The brooch was subsequently reacquired by Mr. Winston and resold as a newly designed jewel to its current owner.
Now, over a century later, this legendary blue diamond comes to auction for the very first time, set as a striking contemporary ring by the celebrated Parisian designer JAR.
The legacy of Golconda diamonds begins with a reference found in a 4th-century Sanskrit manuscript. In 327 BC, Alexander the Great brought diamonds from India to Europe, sparking the West’s enduring fascination with these rare gems. By 1292 AD, Marco Polo famously chronicled the captivating beauty of Indian diamonds in his travel writings. Today, The Golconda Blue stands not only as a natural marvel but also as a storied jewel—its provenance bridging continents, dynasties, and centuries.
DiamondBuzz
Anglo American cuts book value of De Beers to $2.3bn, reflects a convergence of structural and cyclical pressures
Anglo American has written down the book value of De Beers for the third consecutive year, slashing it from $4.1bn to $2.3bn — a 44% reduction — as the diamond miner reported a catastrophic swing from a $25m EBITDA profit in 2024 to a $511m loss in 2025. This impairment brings the cumulative destruction of De Beers’ book value to approximately $6.9bn since 2023, when it stood at $9.2bn.
The deterioration reflects a convergence of structural and cyclical pressures: weak consumer demand, falling rough diamond prices, inventory overhang, growing competition from lab-grown diamonds, and the headwinds of US tariffs on Indian exports — the world’s primary diamond cutting and polishing hub. Anglo American’s CEO Duncan Wanblad has confirmed De Beers is in advanced sale discussions, with the possibility of a staged divestment in two or three tranches.
A central paradox defines De Beers’ 2025 results: revenue grew 6% to $3.5bn, yet the business collapsed into deep loss. This disconnect is explained by the composition of sales. Sales volumes surged 17% to 20.9m carats as the company executed stock rebalancing initiatives — essentially clearing accumulated high-cost inventory at sharply discounted prices. The average per-carat realised price fell 7% from $152 to $142, reflecting both weaker market prices and the deliberate sale of lower-quality, lower-value stones.
The stock rebalancing programme alone generated $424m in trading losses, as diamonds acquired and cut at higher cost were sold at prices below their carrying value. This single line item accounts for the overwhelming majority of the $536m swing in EBITDA.
Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad confirmed in the February 2026 earnings call that the company is in advanced discussions with a select group of interested parties regarding the sale of De Beers. This follows Anglo’s strategic decision to simplify its portfolio by divesting non-core assets, a process accelerated by a hostile takeover approach from BHP in 2024.
Wanblad’s indication that the sale may occur in two or three tranches — rather than a single transaction — is significant. A staged divestment could reflect:
• difficulty in finding a single buyer willing to take the full stake at an acceptable valuation
• a desire to maximise aggregate proceeds by selling to different buyers with different strategic motivations
• regulatory constraints in relevant jurisdictions
With the book value now at $2.3bn and the business generating a $511m EBITDA loss, prospective buyers face the challenge of pricing an asset through the trough of a cycle in a structurally disrupted sector. Potential buyers may include:
- Sovereign wealth funds seeking long-duration commodity exposure
- Private equity consortia with a turnaround thesis
- Industry consolidators, potentially including Government of Botswana (which holds a 15% stake) or luxury conglomerates
- Strategic investors from emerging market diamond consumer nations
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