The princely state of Hyderabad was once one of the most prosperous and influential kingdoms in India. Among its rulers, the Asaf Jahi dynasty produced some of the wealthiest monarchs the world had ever known. By the early 20th century, the Nizam of Hyderabad was recognized as the richest man on earth, his fortune so vast that it was hard even to estimate. Yet, with all this wealth, his lifestyle was shrouded in simplicity and eccentric habits that fascinated the world.
One of the most famous and enduring stories about the Nizam revolves around a single object—a dazzling diamond, one of the largest in existence, which the ruler casually used as nothing more than a paperweight on his desk.
The Nizam most closely associated with this tale was Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad (1886–1967). He ruled from 1911 until 1948, when Hyderabad was integrated into the Indian Union. Osman Ali Khan was not just a ruler; he was a legend. At the peak of his reign, he was listed by Time magazine in 1937 as the world’s richest man, his estimated fortune exceeding £2 billion (a staggering sum at that time).
His wealth came from the enormous revenues of his state, extensive landholdings, and most famously, the Golconda diamond mines, which had historically produced some of the most celebrated gems in the world—the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope Diamond, and the Orlov, among others.
Despite this unimaginable fortune, the Nizam was known for his frugality, bordering on miserliness. He lived in relative austerity, wore the same faded clothes for years, smoked cheap cigarettes, and sat on old, worn carpets, even as priceless treasures surrounded him. It was this paradox between his wealth and his lifestyle that gave rise to one of history’s most fascinating anecdotes.
The centerpiece of this story is the Jacob Diamond, a colossal 184.75-carat, colorless, cushion-cut diamond. It is the fifth-largest polished diamond in the world and has a history almost as fascinating as its sheer size.
The diamond takes its name from Alexander Malcolm Jacob, a British gem trader who tried to sell it in the late 19th century. It was once intended for the sixth Nizam, Mahbub Ali Pasha (Osman Ali Khan’s father), but disputes over its price meant that the diamond languished in a court case for years. Eventually, the Nizam’s family came into possession of it.
To most collectors, such a stone would be a crown jewel, something to guard in velvet cases, display with pride, or even adorn in ceremonial regalia. But for Osman Ali Khan, it became nothing more than a tool—an oversized, glittering object that he reportedly used to weigh down papers on his desk.
According to accounts from visitors and palace insiders, Osman Ali Khan discovered the Jacob Diamond in an old shoe that once belonged to his father. The stone had been forgotten and tucked away in storage. When the Nizam found it, he casually decided to keep it on his desk—not in a jewel box, but right among his everyday clutter.
Instead of marveling at its brilliance, the Nizam simply treated it as a mundane object. He used it to keep his piles of letters and documents from fluttering in the breeze, as Hyderabad summers were known for strong winds that rattled through the high-ceilinged palaces.
Foreign dignitaries and officials who visited his office often gasped when they recognized what sat on his desk. Some couldn’t believe that such an extraordinary diamond could be lying around so casually, while the Nizam himself seemed utterly indifferent to its value.
This small detail of his daily life became a symbol of his eccentricity: the richest man in the world, so wealthy that he could treat one of the world’s greatest diamonds as a trivial object.
The diamond paperweight story became famous not just because of the jewel itself, but because it perfectly captured the contradictions of Osman Ali Khan’s personality.
Despite his fabulous wealth, he avoided ostentation. He once remarked that gold and diamonds were merely stones and metals, nothing more. He believed in living simply, even if his definition of simplicity still placed him in palaces. He often appeared in public wearing old, patched sherwanis (long coats) and a tattered fez, while rulers of lesser means adorned themselves in jewels.
At the same time, he was a great patron of education, infrastructure, and development. He donated generously to universities, hospitals, and public projects. He was one of the largest contributors to the Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University, and even gave aid to the British during World War II.
Thus, the diamond on his desk was not just an eccentricity—it reflected his worldview. He valued the act of giving far more than the display of wealth.
After Hyderabad’s accession to India in 1948, much of the Nizam’s private treasury was disputed, fought over, or taken under government custody. The Jacob Diamond, too, eventually passed into state possession.
Today, it is preserved in the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai and is considered a national treasure. Valuations of the diamond have ranged into hundreds of millions of dollars, making it one of the most valuable gems owned by the Indian state.
But its greatest legacy is not just its market worth—it is the story of how a monarch, the richest man of his time, regarded it as no more than a paperweight.
The tale of the Nizam’s diamond paperweight has endured because it is more than just an anecdote about wealth. It symbolizes the fleeting nature of riches and the strange ways in which people value—or devalue—them.
For the world, the Jacob Diamond was a priceless gem. For the Nizam, it was a simple tool. His indifference to such magnificence reminds us that value is often in the eye of the beholder.
It also reflects the peculiarities of human nature: how someone who could afford anything in the world chose instead to live with modesty, sometimes bordering on eccentric neglect. It was perhaps his way of showing that true power did not lie in flaunting wealth, but in controlling it.
The story of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Jacob Diamond remains one of the most fascinating tales from India’s royal past. It tells us about a man who was the richest in the world, yet lived like a commoner. A ruler who had one of the largest diamonds ever discovered but saw it fit only to weigh down his letters.
It is a story that continues to amaze and amuse, passed down through generations as a reminder of the ironies of history. The diamond still exists, glittering silently in a bank vault, but the tale of how it once sat casually on a desk in Hyderabad remains the true treasure.
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