Notandas — Mumbai's Mid-Twentieth-Century House of Coloured Stones
Notandas — Mumbai's Mid-Twentieth-Century House of Coloured Stones
An Indian jewellery house established in 1936, known for high-jewellery work in Burmese ruby, Kashmir sapphire, and Colombian emerald
Notandas is among the historic Indian jewellery houses, established in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1936 and active through the mid-twentieth century. The house built its reputation in the period of late princely-state patronage and post-independence wealth consolidation, serving maharajas, prominent business families, and discerning international collectors. Its work centred on coloured-gemstone expertise, with particular strength in Burmese ruby, Kashmir sapphire, and Colombian emerald — the three cornerstones of Indian high-jewellery taste in the twentieth century.
Founding and historical context
Notandas was founded at a moment of transition in the Indian jewellery trade. The 1930s saw princely-state patronage continue but begin to give way to a more diversified clientele as commercial wealth grew and Indian independence approached. Mumbai, with its access to international shipping, its concentration of wealth, and its proximity to the gem-cutting centres of Surat and Jaipur, was emerging as a major hub for high-end jewellery alongside Calcutta, Hyderabad, and Madras.
The house took advantage of this position by developing relationships with the Burmese ruby trade through Bombay's mercantile connections, with the Sri Lankan sapphire and corundum trade, and with European houses dealing in Colombian emerald. By the 1940s and 1950s, Notandas was established as a respected name in Indian high jewellery, with workshops capable of executing demanding commissions in platinum and high-carat gold.
Style and craft
Notandas's mid-twentieth-century work blended Indian and European aesthetic traditions, characteristic of the better Indian houses of the period. Platinum settings, articulated mountings, and millegrained edges drew on European Art Deco and post-war jewellery vocabulary, while gemstone selection, gem combination, and certain construction techniques reflected the Mughal-derived Indian tradition. The result was jewellery legible in both contexts: appropriate for European-style dress yet structurally and materially aligned with Indian wealth norms of investment-grade gem content.
Burmese ruby, Kashmir sapphire, and Colombian emerald were the principal stones, often combined with diamonds, pearls, or other coloured material. The house worked with stones up to substantial weights — significant rubies in the high single carats and beyond, fine Kashmir sapphires of comparable scale, and large Colombian emeralds — and developed the setting and construction expertise required to mount such material reliably.
Mumbai as a gem-trading and manufacturing centre
Notandas's emergence and growth coincided with Mumbai's broader rise as the principal Indian gem-trading and diamond-manufacturing city. The decades following independence in 1947 saw the consolidation of Surat as the world's largest diamond cutting centre, while Mumbai handled wholesale, finance, export, and high-jewellery manufacturing. The Bharat Diamond Bourse and Zaveri Bazaar — the historic jewellery quarter of south Mumbai — became central to the global gem trade. Houses like Notandas were among the names that gave the Mumbai trade its identity in the high-jewellery segment.
The Indian houses competed on a different basis from the European maisons. Where Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, and others emphasised brand, design provenance, and signature mountings, Indian houses tended to compete on gem quality, weight, and direct relationships with Indian princely and commercial clients who valued the underlying material above brand premium. Notandas operated within this Indian commercial logic, with the underlying assumption that a buyer's interest was primarily in the stones and the wearable wealth they represented.
Legacy and contemporary status
Notandas remains an Indian jewellery name today, with continuing operations under family ownership. The house's mid-century work appears periodically at auction and in private-collection sales, with attribution typically resting on workshop signatures, family provenance, and stylistic analysis. The most desirable Notandas pieces from the historical period are those with documented Burmese, Kashmir, or Colombian provenance for the principal stones, supported by laboratory reports issued at the time of sale or subsequently.
Like other historic Indian houses, Notandas's mid-century material has benefited from the broader market revaluation of unheated Burmese ruby, Kashmir sapphire, and Old-Mine Colombian emerald, which has lifted prices for fine examples regardless of their setting. A Notandas mount with a Gübelin or SSEF Burmese-origin certificate on the principal ruby commands a premium reflecting both the gem and the historical context.
In the trade
For collectors and dealers handling vintage Indian high jewellery, Notandas is one of the names worth recognising. Attribution should be supported where possible by family provenance, workshop marks, or documentation; period photographs, family archives, and Indian jewellery catalogues from the 1940s through the 1960s are useful references. Treatment status of the principal coloured stones should be verified through current laboratory testing, as period certificates predate modern detection methods.