Diamond necklace linked to Marie Antoinette scandal sells at auction in Geneva

It’s a sparkling piece of scandal.

A 300-carat 18th century necklace, whose diamonds may have helped fuel the overthrow of the French monarchy, sold Wednesday for nearly $5 million at an auction in Geneva.

The necklace has been worn at two British coronations and may contain diamonds from the infamous necklace at the heart of a scandal that tainted the reputation of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France.

It sold for more than twice its estimate, at $4.81 million.

Experts believe that some of the diamonds may be linked to the infamous “Affair of the Diamond Necklace.” That theory is supported by the style of the necklace as well as the quality and age of the stones, the auction house Sotheby’s said in a press release.

The exact origins of the necklace have not been recorded, with Sotheby’s stressing it does not know for certain.

Despite this, it said it believed that the necklace “could only have been created for royalty or a high-ranking aristocrat.” It pointed to its nearly 500 diamonds arranged in three rows that trail on either side into a tassel.

“It stands head and shoulders above all other documented Royal and Imperial jewels of the period,” Andres White Correal, head of royal and noble jewels at Sotheby’s said in a statement before the auction.

“This rare and important diamond jewel is a sublime survivor from the opulent court life of the Georgian era, defined by its unrivalled pomp and splendor; it is arguably one of the most magnificent and intact Georgian jewels in private hands,” he added.

“It was an electric night,” White Correal told the Reuters news agency after the sale.

“There is obviously a niche in the market for historical jewels with fabulous provenances. People are not only buying the object, they are buying all the history that is attached to it,” he said.

That history centers on Louis XV, the king of France, who commissioned a lavish diamond necklace for his mistress, Madam Du Barry, in 1722 — two years before he died of smallpox.

That meant he could not pay for and receive the necklace, leaving the jewelers out of pocket.

Marie Antoinette, the country’s new queen consort, declined to buy the necklace despite her reputation for extravagance. Noblewoman Jeanne de La Motte then, so the story goes, posed as the queen and convinced an out-of-favor cardinal to give her the lavish necklace as a gift before absconding with the lucrative diamonds.

A subsequent trial found the queen innocent, but the same could not be said of the court of public opinion. The French Revolution followed years later.

It is unclear exactly how the necklace ended up in the hands of a British aristocratic family, the Pagets.

The Marchioness of Anglesey, a member of the Paget family, wore the necklace at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.

According to Sotheby’s, the family parted with the piece after it was acquired by an “important Asian private collection in the 1970s.”

The necklace has been in private hands ever since.

In 2022, bracelets that once belonged to Marie Antoinette sold for more than $8 million at auction, also in Geneva.