The Princie Diamond

From Golconda to the treasury of the Nizams

The Princie is a Golconda diamond, the name given to stones from the old mines of south-central India. Accounts agree it was found about 300 years ago and first recorded in the 1700s as part of the wealth of the royal family of Hyderabad, whose rulers carried the title Nizam.

It is type IIa, a chemically pure class of diamond. Its color is Fancy Intense Pink and its clarity VS2, and it is cushion cut. Under ultraviolet light it gives a strong orangey-red fluorescence, which one account says lends the stone a glowing effect. Whoever first cut it is not recorded in the sources reviewed for this page.

A party in Paris and a prince called Princie

The diamond first came to auction in London on March 17, 1960, catalogued only as "Property of a Gentleman." The gentleman was later revealed to be the Nizam of Hyderabad himself. The London branch of Van Cleef & Arpels bought it for 46,000 British pounds; one account credits the purchase to Pierre Arpels.

The stone traveled to the firm's Paris store, where it was unveiled at a party. The guest of honor was Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda, who came with her 14-year-old son, Sayajirao Gaekwad. The boy was nicknamed Princie, and Pierre Arpels named the diamond for him. Sayajirao lived from 1945 to 1985.

The senator, the widow and the missing jewels

Also in 1960, according to court records and later reporting, the Italian senator and businessman Renato Angiolillo acquired the Princie from Van Cleef & Arpels. That same year he married his second wife, Maria Girani. The senator died in Italy in August 1973. His heirs later argued that Girani had received only custody of the gems, not ownership, and that under Italian law his possessions should have passed to the children of his first marriage.

Maria Girani Angiolillo died in Rome on October 14, 2009. When the senator's heirs asked for the jewels, her son, Marco Oreste Bianchi Milella, said they were not among her possessions. On October 8, 2010, Investel Finance Ltd., a company owned by the Swiss gem dealer David Gol, bought the Princie from Milella by bank transfer, and on October 11 it consigned the stone for sale in New York. In March 2013, Italian authorities searched Milella's home and others and recovered some of the senator's other jewelry. An Italian criminal court dismissed charges against Milella on January 17, 2018.

A record in New York, April 2013

On April 16, 2013, the Princie was the headline lot of a jewelry sale in New York. It sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $39,323,750 with premium, or $1,135,000 per carat; the same figure was reported as 25,560,438 British pounds or 29,886,050 euros. The court opinion in the later case records the winning bid as $39,322,750, a one-digit difference.

The price set the auction record for any Golconda diamond and made the Princie the most valuable diamond ever sold at auction in the United States at the time, beating the $24.3 million paid for the Wittelsbach Diamond in December 2008. The whole sale of more than 290 jewels brought $81,358,700. Reports disagree on the pre-sale estimate: one gives $20 million to $30 million, another more than $45 million.

The buyer's identity was not announced. Later reports said the stone had gone to a member of Qatar's royal family and was being kept in a vault in Switzerland.

The courtroom fight over title

According to the court's 2019 opinion, the senator's heirs and an Italian prosecutor notified the auctioneer of ownership claims between April 8 and 10, 2013, days before the sale. The auctioneer said at the time that the seller had held full and clear title for several years.

In March 2015, the heirs, including the senator's son and grandchildren, sued in New York State Supreme Court, seeking the diamond's return or its market value plus damages. In a decision dated April 26, 2019 (one law-firm summary says May 2019), Justice Andrew Borrok held that the court could not decide as a matter of law whether Renato Angiolillo owned the diamond at his death, ruled that New York law, not Swiss law, governs the title question, dismissed the replevin claims and let the conversion claims proceed. An appellate court later ruled in the family's favor, letting the case move toward trial.

The case never reached a jury. The parties settled out of court, on undisclosed terms; reports differ on when, placing the settlement in 2023 or late 2024.

The numbers

Carat weight

34.65 carats

Color and clarity

Fancy Intense Pink, VS2

Diamond type

IIa

Origin mine

Golconda mines, India

Cutter

Not recorded in the sources reviewed

Shape

Cushion cut

Timeline

1. 1700

   In the 1700s the diamond is recorded among the wealth of the Nizams of Hyderabad.

2. Mar 17, 1960

   Offered at auction in London as "Property of a Gentleman"; bought by Van Cleef & Arpels for 46,000 pounds.

3. 1960

   Unveiled at Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris and named the Princie for the 14-year-old Prince of Baroda.

4. 1960

   Italian senator Renato Angiolillo acquires the diamond; he marries Maria Girani the same year.

5. Aug 1973

   Renato Angiolillo dies in Italy.

6. Oct 14, 2009

   Maria Girani Angiolillo dies in Rome.

7. Oct 8, 2010

   Investel Finance, owned by dealer David Gol, buys the diamond from Marco Milella.

8. Oct 11, 2010

   Investel consigns the diamond for sale in New York.

9. Mar 28, 2013

   Italian authorities execute a search warrant and recover some of the senator's other jewelry.

10. Apr 8, 2013

    Angiolillo heirs and an Italian prosecutor begin notifying the auctioneer of ownership claims.

11. Apr 16, 2013

    The Princie sells at auction in New York for $39,323,750, a record for a Golconda diamond.

12. Mar 2015

    The Angiolillo heirs file suit in New York State Supreme Court.

13. Jan 17, 2018

    An Italian criminal court dismisses charges against Milella.

14. Apr 26, 2019

    Justice Andrew Borrok rules that New York law governs title and lets conversion claims proceed.

15. 2023

    The case is reported settled out of court; another account dates the settlement to late 2024.

The world in 2013

• Feb 15, 2013

  A meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring about 1,500 people.

• Feb 28, 2013

  Pope Benedict XVI resigns, the first pope to do so voluntarily since 1294.

• Mar 13, 2013

  Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected pope and takes the name Francis.

• Mar 25, 2013

  The European Union agrees to a 10 billion euro bailout for Cyprus.

• Apr 8, 2013

  Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher dies.

• Apr 15, 2013

  Bombs at the Boston Marathon kill 3 people and injure 264, the day before the New York sale.

• Apr 24, 2013

  The Savar building collapse in Bangladesh kills 1,134 people.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, The Princie Diamond is number 9 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (8 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• In 1960 the seller was listed only as "Property of a Gentleman"; it was the Nizam of Hyderabad.
• The diamond is named for a 14-year-old boy whose nickname was Princie.
• It glows orangey-red under ultraviolet light.
• The senator's heirs and an Italian prosecutor raised ownership claims days before the 2013 sale.
• Its 2013 price beat the $24.3 million paid for the Wittelsbach Diamond in 2008.
• Some sources misstate its weight as 35.65 carats; the sale and the court records give 34.65.