Indore Diamond Pears: Their Sparkling Odyssey: From Golconda to Indore And then To Mouawad

Navrang India March 07, 2026

 

Indore necklace timesnownews.com

Above image: Yashwant Rao Holkar II, Necklace created by Joseph Chaumet in 1913 with the Indore Pears and Maharani Sanyogita Devi of Indore’s necklace created by Mauboussin in 1933.........

Indore diamonds.
irishjewelrydesign.com		 

Above image: Indore Pears of Golconda origin once owned by The Maharajah of Indore, India Tukoji Rao Holker& later by Nancy Ann Miller. The Indore Pear Diamonds have a chequered history of ownership.  After  the Maharajah of Indore, they changed royal hands in India and abroad, and finally ended up with in the hands Lebanese jeweller Robert Mouawad...........

Ann Miller with Indian ruler. III
intachindore.blogspot.com

 Above image :  The Maharajah of Indore, Tukoji Rao Holker and Rani Nancy Ann Miller of Seattle, WA,  Holker is one of the richest Maharajahs of India and was fond of flashy cars..........

God created the Maharajahs to provide a spectacle to humanity - so wrote Rudyard Kipling the famous novelist and story-teller. The Indian Maharajahs, with their Royal colorful paraphernalia,  vast array of expensive jewelry collections and a fleet of most expensive cars in the world, as a matter of fact, provided more than a spectacle - near summit of fortune and opulence. 

The Indore Pears, believed to have been originated from Golconda-Kollur diamond of Andhra, were two, beautiful and spectacular pear shaped diamonds of 46.95 carats and 46.70 carats each. They were set in the most captivating art deco settings and were among the fabled collections  of the great Holkar dynasty of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Once the Holkars had a vast collection of finest jewelry embedded with precious gems and diamonds of international quality.
 
Indore Pears of www.embeediatech.ca

Above image: Indore Pears  are  of Golconda (kingdom) origin, near Hyderabad, Telangana. It was  once owned by  the Maharaja of Indore, Tukoji Rao Holker............

Necklace with Indore diamond pears phillips.com

Above image:Cover of Vogue, February 15, 1949, showcasing a model wearing the necklace with Indore Pear Diamonds created by Harry Winston with French lace bustier by Pauline Gordon......... 

The story of the Indore Pears is a saga of opulence, scandal, and international intrigue. These two spectacular pear-shaped diamonds, originally weighing approximately 46.95 and 46.70 carats, are believed to have originated from the legendary Golconda mines (present day Andhra State, near Guntur city and near Krishna delta region) in India. For centuries, these Kollur  mines produced the world's most chemically pure diamonds,like Koh-i-noor,Orlov, Hope, etc and the Indore Pears, with their exceptional "water" and brilliance, are among their finest ambassadors.

The Holkar Legacy and Royal Scandal

The diamonds became part of the fabled treasury of the rich Holkar dynasty, the Maratha rulers of IndoreNow Madhya Pradesh). They reached their peak of notoriety during the reign of Maharajah Tukojirao Holkar III. Known for his immense wealth and a penchant for "flashy cars," the Maharaja's life took a dramatic turn in the 1920s. Following his alleged involvement in a high-profile kidnapping and murder case in Bombay (the "Malabar Hill Murder"), he was forced by the British authorities to abdicate in favor of his son, Yashwant Rao Holkar II, in 1926.

A Seattle Socialite and a Wedding Gift

During his subsequent travels in Europe, the abdicated Maharaja met Nancy Ann Miller, a socialite from Seattle,Washington State,USA. Their romance captivated the world press. In 1928, Miller converted to Hinduism, took the name Maharani Sharmishtha Devi, and married the Maharaja. As a testament to his affection, Tukojirao presented her with the Indore Pears.

The diamonds were famously set and reset by the world's premier jewelers. Chaumet created a stunning necklace for the Maharaja in 1913, while Mauboussin later designed a piece for Maharani Sanyogita Devi (the wife of his successor). The Pears became symbols of the "Art Deco" era of Indian royalty.

The Journey West

As the saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt"; the marriage eventually dissolved. This marriage  was not based on mutual understanding and true love, but based on mere infatuation.   She  did not want to keep the Indore diamond pears with her and In 1946,  the ex-Maharani sold the diamonds to the famed New York jeweler Harry Winston. Winston, known for refining legendary stones, slightly recut the diamonds to improve their brilliance, reducing them to 44.14 and 44.62 carats. He famously featured them in a 1949 Vogue spread, cementing their status as icons of mid-century glamour.

Modern Ownership

After passing through the hands of a Philadelphia collector and various private owners, the Indore Pears appeared twice at Christie’s Geneva auctions (1980 and 1987). Today, they reside in the prestigious collection of the Lebanese jeweler and collector Robert Mouawad. Though they no longer grace the necks of Indian royalty, the Indore Pears remains a glittering reminder of a vanished era of Indian Maharajahs and their "spectacle to humanity.