“The Golconda Blue” is the largest fancy vivid blue diamond to ever be offered at auction, Christie’s said. 

It is estimated to fetch $35 million to $50 million.

The diamond, set in a ring designed by JAR, will headline the Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale, set to take place May 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva.

The legacy of Golconda diamonds dates back centuries, with the first reference found in a 4th-century Sanskrit manuscript. They were the first diamonds in the world to be discovered, said Christie’s, mined in the historic region of Golconda in southern India, near present-day Hyderabad. 

In 327 BC, Alexander the Great brought diamonds from India to Europe, said Christie’s, and by 1292 AD, Marco Polo had written about their beauty while documenting his travels. 

The Golconda Blue boasts a provenance rooted in Indian royalty.  

Yeshwant Rao Holkar II, the Maharaja of Indore and a member of the Holkar dynasty, was, with his wife Sanyogitabai Devi, known for his modernist tastes and lifestyle of elegance and sophistication in the 1920s and 1930s.  

The British-educated ruler was a Knight of the Order of the Indian Empire. He traveled often and developed an affinity for Western art, design, and jewelry. 

In 1913, the Maharaja’s father, Tukoji Rao Holkar III, acquired the Indore Pear diamonds from Chaumet—a famed pair of pear-shaped diamonds weighing, at that time, 46.70 and 46.95 carats. 

During another visit to the jeweler in 1923, he commissioned a bracelet set with his own 23-carat pear-shaped Golconda blue diamond.