Sanjay Kasliwal opens the large, black, velvet-covered jewel case he is holding, and I let out an involuntary gasp. Inside is the most stunning necklace I have ever seen, its superb diamonds and gold setting mere accessories to the perfect, grape-sized cabochon emeralds that seem to glow with a pure, green light. Sanjay, warming to the task, shows us more. Solid silver throne-style chairs with padded velvet inserts that had once adorned a palace are now on offer here. So is a maharaja's chess set of soldiers, elephants and other figures. This set was made in 22 carat gold and set with rose cut diamonds. It was made in 1820 and is a very fine specimen of Jaipur enamel work.


We are at the Gem Palace at Mirza Ismail Road in Jaipur and from the street, this shop is unimpressive-no Bulgari, Tiffany, or Van Cleef & Arpel-style windows to catch your imagination. But once inside, you start to get the impression that you may indeed be in Aladdin's cave. Yet it is not until you have met the owner-and been assessed as worthy of being shown his treasures-that the world of Indian jewels, pomp and wealth is brought to life.
For here you can find many exquisite pieces of jewellery that adorned the families of fabulously rich maharajas when they were at the zenith of their wealth and power.

The combination of having to pay taxes rather than being able to levy them, and the demise of state occasions, parties and soirees where the display of jewelled wealth was de rigueur, has meant that many a priceless jewel is finding its way back into the market. And they are doing so through the services of the jewellers that had provided these baubles to the maharajas in the first instance.

We are staying in Jaipur at Rajvilas, which many regard as India's most outstanding resort hotel. When, this morning, we had asked Huvida Marshall, the general manager, if there were any especially interesting people we should meet, Sanjay's name had immediately come into the conversation. "Try and meet this man," Huvida had said. "He has some of the finest jewellery in India in his establishment."

Expensive jewels and the super-wealthy, hedonistic maharajas of Rajasthan have gone together like eggs and bacon. Money was no object for these local kings who loved their collections of palaces, concubines, jewellery and, more recently, Rolls Royces. In the 1920s and the 1930s this part of India was home to the greatest concentration of Rolls Royces in the world. These powerful rulers loved pomp and ceremony, and every such occasion was a place to
show off some part of their collection of fabulous jewels.

This situation created a need for reliable suppliers of these gems and the Kasliwal family, of which Sanjay is now of the seventh generation, fell neatly into this role. They employed a stable of jewellery designers, cutters, polishers and setters who created whatever baubles the maharajas desired. And the range was not restricted to necklaces! 24-carat gold chessboards, decorative enamelled, jewel encrusted birds, solid silver furniture and even the making of emerald waistcoat-buttons kept the Kasliwal's craftsmen busy night and day.

Today, these ruling families, though still powerful in India, No longer attend the state occasions that warrant such opulence. They are also faced with heavy taxes on their palaces and properties, and so jewellery that has been in their families for generations is slowly finding itself back onto the world market. And having complete trust in the Kasliwals, it is only natural that they should be selling their high-priced trinkets through the same family that supplied them in the first place.

The items on open display in the Gem Palace are magnificent, and some articles in the shop's glass cases even' date back to the 1500s-but they are not the finest pieces available. Those are kept under tight security, and it is only after one has been carefully assessed by Sanjay that he will bring out those pieces that will leave you gasping. Fortunately, we pass, and as we show interest he brings out some of these incredible treasures. One is a gold drinking-flask for sipping saffron, made for a wealthy family in 1890, in the shape of a life-size parrot. Its wings are encrusted with rubies and diamonds and four craftsmen spent years in its creation. Recently the Kasliwals were offered OS$400,000 for this piece, but it is not for sale. "I'm creating a museum on the second floor to house some of the finest family pieces," Sanjay confided, saying that he would show this to us later, and went on to show us more of his jewellery.

Out came a necklace of diamonds and pearls accented by emeralds, with earrings to match, then a maharaja's solid gold plate, enamelled in exquisite design with a solid gold spoon to match. Another diamond necklace was followed by a maharaja's collar of natural pearls, diamonds, emeralds and rubies-the treasures seem endless. Everything here is 22-carat gold. Anything less is considered nouveau riche.
We ask Sanjay to give us more detail about the chess set. "The art of enamelling on metal was successfully practiced in many parts of India, but experts acknowledge that the best work on gold was produced in Jaipur," says Sanjay, almost reverently. "The colours employed rival tints of rainbow in purity and brilliance and were laid onto gold by the Jaipur enamellers with such exquisite detail and taste that there is never a want of harmony. The rose-cut diamonds served to enhance the beauty of the enamel."

As we talk, we start to understand just what a treasure house the Gem Palace really is, and how well connected the Kasliwal family is to the world's movers and shakers. This family business is no Indian backwater. There is a strong Milan, London, Zurich and New York connection. Sanjay will also make pieces to specific designs and orders of people like Louis G Scialanga, a friend of Georgio Armani. He also shows us a 22-carat gold bracelet produced to the design of Parisian Marie-Helene de Taillac. It flashes and sparkles rose cut diamonds seeming to float along its gold filaments. We are shown a matched set of exquisite pear-shaped emeralds. "This are the makings of another necklace that I am commissioned to produce. Times in Europe are tough, but there are still some rather wealthy people around." We look at these perfect emeralds and agree.

Although reluctant to say who specifically has purchased what pieces, the Kasliwal's customer list is like a who's who of the worlds rich and famous. The Gem Palace had supplied the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana when they visited in 1992, Lawrence Rockefeller, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Lord Mountbatten, the Queen of Spain, Jackie Onassis (the former Jacqueline Kennedy) and the most important maharajas of the area.
I ask Sanjay if he has ever produced anything that was not to his personal taste. He smiles and shows me a photograph of a chandelier adorned with 37,000 carats of rubies and sapphires along with 8,700 diamonds. "It is not exactly to my taste, but we made this on order for a Middle Eastern sheikh." Price'? Sanjay smiles. He won't be specific. Around US$l,000,000

We proceed upstairs. Here we find a group of the craftsmen who actually create some of these treasures. In one room, a number of people are sitting cross-legged in front of spinning buffer-wheels, cutting and polishing gemstones. In another room that looks far more like a hairdressing salon than anything else, setters are creating the gold and silver 'frames' that these gems will be held in.

Sanjay then takes us through another door and we find ourselves in what looks like a palace-to-be-the future family museum. It has been under construction for over ten years, with much of the finishing work like the highly polished floors of inlaid marble, the inset mirrors and the colourful walls and columns completed in the last 24 months. Eventually this room will house 200 of the family's finest pieces, along with some priceless miniature Rajasthan paintings. Sanjay tells us that his dream is to set up a school for craftsmen, where young people could be taught jewellery arts like enamel work and intricate settings.

We wander downstairs where Sanjay shows us his private collection of his other 'jewels'-his vintage cars. We see his magnificent 1939 Mercedes Roadster and his 1956 Cadillac in mint condition. His other cars, like the 1941 air-conditioned Packard and 1933 Dodge, all belonged to various maharajas with whom Sanjay's family were doing business. Today these are his pride and joy.

As we leave this incredible place, we can't help thinking of the fabulous pieces we have seen. If only we had an H.G. Wellsian time-machine, we could put some of these pieces into it, and be taken to the grandest occasions when they were worn! Ah well! For the moment we will just have to use our imagination!