Most Expensive Gifts to Royalties

Sawai Sir Madho Singh Bahadur (1861-1922), Maharaja of Jaipur, one of the few Indian rulers and nobles invited to the ceremony at Westminster Abbey in June 1902. He presented Edward VII an extraordinarily valuable sword and scabbard on his coronation. Madho Singh hired a ship with and emplaced enormous copper vats with his raft to withstand strong tides of Ganges and Indian Ocean. He had an entourage of 400 followers for the journey to England. The coronation was postponed at the last minute due to the King's appendicitis after they and numerous other foreign leaders of state and royalty arrived in London. It didn't happen until August 9, by which time most of the royal visitors had left for home. The Maharaja did, however, attend the rescheduled ceremony after spending the interim period residing at Kedleston Hall and other country estates.

The coronation present, which was set with a total of 719 diamonds (there has been one loss, from the upper suspension ring), shows the significance of the jeweler in the Maharaja's household. These feature a sizable number of rose-cut and brilliant-cut stones. The two mixed-cut pale yellow diamonds near the end of the quillons, one of which is estimated to weigh 36 carats, look to be the largest. Two thousand carats or more may be the total weight of all the diamonds. The scabbard and hilt are made of gold and have beautiful dark blue, green, and red enameling on them. In contrast, the steel blade is of noticeably inferior grade.

Jaipur had a population of 2.8 million residents in 1897. It was one of the biggest and richest Rajput states. The Albert Hall in Jaipur was one of many new public structures constructed in the capital city during Edward VII's visit in 1875–1876, along with libraries, art galleries, and hospitals.

Inscribed on the blade “A TOKEN OF THE LOYALTY OF / SAWAI MADHO SINGH / MAHARAJA OF JAIPUR / 9th AUGUST 1902”.