A mysterious diamond necklace with possible links to the scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette, sold for $ 4.8 million at an auction in Geneva Wednesday.
The 18th-century gem containing approximately 300 carats of diamonds has been estimated to sell for $1.8-2.8 million at Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale.
But after energetic bidding, the hammer price ticked at 3.55 million Swiss francs ($4 million), and Sotheby’s listed the final price after taxes and commissions at 4.26 million francs ($4.81 million).
The unidentified buyer, who bid by phone, was “very happy,” Andres White Correal, head of Sotheby’s jewelry department, told AFP.
“He was ready to fight and he did,” he said, adding it was “an electric night.”
Image Jordan Pettitt/PA via Getty Images
“There is obviously a niche in the market for historical jewelry with excellent provenances… People are not only buying objects, but they are buying all the history that is attached to it,” he said.
Some of the diamonds in the piece are believed to have come from the jewel at the center of the “Diamond Necklace” – a scandal in the 1780s that further tarnished the reputation of France’s last monarch, Marie Antoinetteand fostering support for the coming French Revolution.
The auction house said the necklace, which consists of three rows of diamonds finished with a diamond tassel at each end, had emerged “miraculously intact” from a private Asian collection to make its first public appearance in 50 years.
“This stunning antique gem is a remarkable survivor of history,” he said in a statement ahead of the sale.
Describing the massive Georgian piece as “rare and extremely important,” Sotheby’s said it was likely made in the decade before the French Revolution.
“The gem has been passed from family to family. We can start at the beginning of the 20th century when it was part of the collection of the Marquesses of Anglesey,” White Correal.
Members of this aristocratic family are believed to have worn the necklace twice in public: once at the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and once at the coronation of their daughter Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
“Spectacular History”
In addition, not much is known about the necklace, including who designed it and for whom it was commissioned, although the auction house believes that the stunning antique gem could only have been made for the royal family.
Sotheby’s said some of the jewels featured in the piece came from a famous necklace from the scandal that engulfed Marie Antoinette.
The scandal involved a difficult noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte who pretended to be a confidant of the queen, and was able to obtain a luxurious diamond necklace in her name, against the promise of payment later.
On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette was guillotined – but turned her actually innocent of the necklace fraud that she was accused of.
Even though the king was later found innocent in this case, the scandal still led to his unrelenting anger, increasing the anger that would lead to a revolution.
Sotheby’s said the diamond in the necklace sold Wednesday likely came from the “legendary Golconda mine in India” — considered to produce the purest and most spectacular diamonds.
“The lucky buyer has walked away with an incredible history,” Tobias Kormind, head of Europe’s largest online diamond jeweler 77 Diamonds, said in a statement.
“With exceptional quality diamonds from India’s legendary, now-extinct Golconda mine, the historical connection to Marie Antoinette along with the fact that she wore it for two coronations, all make this 18th century necklace truly special.”
In 2018, large and shaped natural pearl pendants are on sale more than $36 million in the auction of rare jewelry that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. “Queen Marie Antoinette’s Pearls,” a diamond-and-pearl pendant, was one of the top deals on the block at Sotheby’s sale of jewelry from the Bourbon-Parma dynasty in Geneva.
