Most expensive Jeweled Indian carpet

Unique most expensive jeweled Indian carpet would be auctioned in Doha, Qatar, on March 18 on Sotheby’s first-ever auctions. Throw-rug-sized Indian carpet was made of pearls, diamonds, rubies and emeralds in 1860s as a gift for the tomb of the Prophet Mohammad in Medina, Saudi Arabia, the carpet was created under the auspices of Gaekwar Kande Rao, the maharajah of Baroda, a former kingdom in northwest India that is now part of Gujarat state. It took five years of labor by hundreds of craftsmen.

In the mid-20th century the unique Indian carpet wound up in the hands of Sita Devi, a woman some refer to as the Wallis Simpson of India. Her husband, Prattapsingh Gaekwar, maharajah of Baroda, scandalized Indian society when he dumped his first wife in favor of the much younger Devi in 1943. Devi promptly transferred many of the family jewels to her homes in Paris and London, and later to Monaco, where the pair lived together before separating in 1956. The carpet remained in her estate until after her death in 1986. As rumors say this worlds most expensive jeweled Indian carpet could fetch as much as $20 million starting at $5 million.