NEW DELHI: A rare collection of jewels of the Nizams of Hyderabad, held in the custody of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since the government acquired it in 1995, could soon be housed permanently at the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, which is being developed in the North and South Blocks on Raisina Hill.
According to sources, the Ministry of Culture plans to display the collection, dating from the 18th to the early 20th century, in one of the museum’s galleries dedicated to adornments.
The collection includes necklaces, bracelets, armlets and rings. Among its notable pieces are a 185-carat Imperial diamond, popularly known as the ‘Jacob diamond’, which is larger than the Koh-i-Noor, and a seven-stringed pearl necklace. The collection is worth thousands of crores of rupees.
It has remained largely out of public view because of the security arrangements needed to move it from the RBI vaults. “The first gallery, likely to be opened to public by June next, will have adornments on display. These jewels have a great story to tell, and they are considered among the most expensive,” a source said .
The ministry has begun work on documentation and logistics of moving the jewellery from the vaults, sources said.
The government bought the jewellery in 1995 for Rs 218 crore, after a legal battle that began in the 1970s. It was earlier held by the HEH Nizam Jewellery Trust and the HEH Nizam Supplemental Jewellery Trust, set up in 1951-52 by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, to safeguard the family’s ancestral wealth.
Shifted to Delhi in 2001
After the government bought the jewellery in 1995, the trustees kept it in a bank in Mumbai. It was then moved to RBI and shifted to New Delhi in 2001.
