Jewellery on display just a tip of iceberg

hyderabad:the nizam's jewellery, being exhibited at the salar jung museum since november 24, which has attracted over 15,000 visitors till date, is only a minuscule part of the ruler's wealth. according to d f karaka who wrote fabulous moghul (the nizam's biography) in 1955, the nizam reputedly had 400 tonnes of gold, 350 kilogrammes of pure diamonds, 17 tonnes of basra pearls, more than one-third land of the state, and several other valuables.the 173 items of jewellery on display at the museum now, priced at over five billion pounds today in the international market, are only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. if the total quantity and quality of the gems available are shown to the public, they would be like manna from heaven, so priceless were they and so dazzling in their beauty, wrote karaka. they would wreck world markets, had they been put up, he wrote in another chapter. the jewels represent many things to many people. for instance, one of the visitors to the nizams' jewellery exhibition remarked, they are a reflection of the beauty and wealth of the state and a mirror of the luxury of the wealth of our rulers. after the abolition of titles and privy purses, prince mukarram jah received the dynastic jewels of the nizam in 1967. in her book, jewels of the nizam, usha r balakrishnan wrote that the whereabouts of these ornaments, which included a seven-stranded pearl necklace, diamond and emerald necklaces, arm bands, buttons and rings and a magnificent turban ornament with briolette drops can only be speculated upon. the book was released by chief minister n chandrababu naidu here on nov. 24. she says in her book these, together with vast quantities of pearls, gems, and the legendary nizam diamond, have vanished for ever.