A member of Qatar’s ruling family has failed in his attempt to force a rival royal faction to sell him the world’s largest cut blue diamond, after a High Court ruling in London.
Judge Simon Birt KC on Thursday dismissed the claim brought by Qipco, the conglomerate run by art collector Sheikh Hamad Abdullah al-Thani, over the 70-carat “Idol’s Eye”.
He ruled that Elanus Holdings Limited, the current owner, did not have a “wish to sell” the storied Indian gemstone.
Qipco — whose boss is the first cousin of Qatar’s ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani — sued Elanus in 2022 to force the sale of the gemstone for a price of at least $10mn under the terms of a 2014 contract between the entities.
The conglomerate claimed Elanus was controlled by the heirs of the late Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani. Elanus is ultimately owned by the Liechtenstein-based Al Thani Foundation, of which Sheikh Saud’s widow and children are beneficiaries.
The 2014 deal saw Elanus loan the “Idol’s Eye” to Qipco for 20 years, and gave Qipco the right to buy the jewel, if Elanus wanted to sell it. The price would be $10mn or the average of two valuations from major auction houses, whichever was the higher figure.
In February 2020, Sheikh Saud’s son, Sheikh Hamad bin Saud al-Thani, known as HBS in the trial, decided to propose a sale of Idol’s Eye to Qipco without consulting “any representative of Elanus” or his family, the court was told.
HBS’s family “had no intention to sell” the gemstone — whose past owners include a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire — and stopped the proposed sale, the court heard.
But Qipco held that the loan agreement had been triggered and that, upon valuation of the diamond, it “may then elect whether to exercise its entitlement to purchase”, the court was told.
After sending Elanus an estimate valuation for the diamond in April, the company served a second valuation, provided by auction house Christie’s, in July. Qipco later asked the High Court to require Elanus to complete the sale.
But Birt on Thursday said: “Elanus did not have a ‘wish to sell’ the diamond . . . HBS did not have such a ‘wish to sell’ (and nor did any other member of the family), and even if he did, that wish cannot be attributed to Elanus.”
The judge also concluded that even if Elanus had had a wish to sell, the wish did not exist by the time Qipco sought to exercise its right of purchase by the time they served the second notice in July. “Qipco’s claim therefore fails,” Birt ruled.
Pinsent Masons, Qipco’s law firm, and Elanus’s law firm Farrer & Co did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sheikh Saud, who died aged 48 in 2014, was the biggest buyer in the global art market in the 2000s and was known for his prolific acquisitions across periods and genres. Such was his influence at auction sales that his 2005 detention by Qatari authorities investigating financial irregularities rocked the art world.
Meanwhile Sheikh Hamad has in recent years emerged as Qatar’s pre-eminent collector, building a large collection that includes some of the finest Mughal jewellery.
His pieces have been shown in major museums worldwide and highlights are on display at bespoke galleries in Paris. His horse-breeding family own Dudley House on Park Lane, one of the UK’s most expensive private residences.
