Marie Antoinette’s diamond necklace sells for $4.8 million

A diamond-encrusted necklace believed to be linked to a scandal that hastened the downfall of Marie Antoinette, the 18th century queen of France, sold at auction on Wednesday in Geneva for 4.26 million Swiss francs (equivalent to 4.81 million of dollars).

Offered for sale by a private Asian collector, the Georgian-era piece containing 300 carats of diamonds sold for more than expected after a lengthy bidding battle. According to Sotheby’s, its value previously amounted to 2 million francs.

“It was an electrifying night,” Andres White Correal, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s, said after the evening sale of the necklace to an unidentified buyer.

“Obviously there is a niche in the market for historical jewelery with fabulous origins. People don’t just buy the item, they buy the whole story attached to it.”

Sotheby’s said this month that some of the diamonds in the piece may have come from a necklace that helped precipitate the downfall of Marie Antoinette, a member of the Austrian royal family who became the wife of French King Louis XVI.

Both were guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution.

The jewels in question were at the center of a scandal in 1785 known as the Diamond Necklace Affair, in which a troubled noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte pretended to be the French queen and purchased the necklace in her name without payment.

A subsequent trial found the queen innocent, but did little to diminish her growing notoriety for extravagance, which helped fuel the revolution and the fall of the French monarchy.

The diamonds from the original necklace, made in 1770, were later sold piece by piece on the black market and are therefore almost impossible to trace. However, some experts say the quality and age of the diamonds indicate a match.

The necklace, which resembles a neckerchief, can be worn open or with a knot at the front. One of the previous owners was the United Kingdom’s Marquess of Anglesey, and a family member wore it during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, according to Sotheby’s.

White Correal said the buyer of the necklace was “ecstatic.”

“He told me something very nice: ‘I’m exceptionally happy to have won this lot, but I don’t own it, I’m just the caretaker until the next person comes along’.”

Source: Terra

Rose

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