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| The World Famous Patiala Necklace .www.thehindu.com.Created by Cartier |
"The Patiala Necklace, world's expensive piece of jewellery ever made, was created by the House of Cartier in 1928 for Bhupinder Singh,then Maharajah of the state of Patiala (Now in Punjab, India). The necklace that carried his name contained 2,930 diamonds embedded in five rows of platinum chains, including its centerpiece, the world's seventh largest "De Beers' diamond. Its pre-cut weight was 428 carat and after cut, it weighed 234.65 carats in its final setting. In addition, there were seven other diamonds ranging from 18 to 73 carats, and a number of Burmese rubies.Cartier spent almost three years to make this exquisite and beautiful Patiala necklace, a unique creation of exemplary beauty.
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| The Patiala palace,Patiala.pazhayathu.blogspot.com |
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| Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of patiala, Punjab,India.mysterioushimachal.wordpress.com |
This famous $25 million worth necklace, with unmatched brilliance and extraordinary design, all of a sudden, disappeared from the treasury of the royal family in a mysterious way around 1948. Why and how it disappeared and who was responsible for it - all these moot questions haunted the investigators and news hungry media people. But, there was no plausible explanation for its mysterious disappearance. The only nearest logical conclusion drawn was that someone in collusion with a royal member or very close to the royal family might have committed the theft without leaving any trace of evidence whatsoever at a time when the vigilance in the royal treasury was on the low.
Before gradual fading of public and investigator's interest in Patiala necklace, the news item that it was rediscovered by Cartier about half-a-century later came as a bolt out of the blue. The investigators assigned to the theft of Patiala necklace had been groping in the dark without no tangible, positive results. The man responsible for the rediscovery was one Eric Nusbaum, a Cartier representative in London and Cartier took the restoration work.
Ref:
http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2004/02/16/stories/2004021601020400.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patiala_Necklace
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