A necklace that played an important role in the fall of the French monarchy in 1789 has been sold at auction for $4.8 million.
The diamond encrusted piece went well beyond its top estimate of 2 million Swiss Francs – around $2.2 million – at Sotheby’s Geneva Royal and Noble auction.
Andres White Correal, Sotherby’s jewellery specialist, described the sale as “an electric night.”
He told Reuters: “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.”
The piece, with 500 diamonds on 3-ropes comprising 300 carats, is linked to the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, a scandal that confirmed to many ordinary French people that their ruling family was decadent and corrupt.
The affair had a particularly negative effect on the reputation of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian born wife of Louis XVI, the last king of France.
Whatever her faults, in this case the young queen was an innocent victim, whose name was appropriated by a con-woman to obtain a valuable necklace.
This piece was not the necklace in the affair, but it’s believed that diamonds from that piece were sold and came to be set in this, the Anglesey Tassels, named for the Marquess of Anglesey’s family, who owned it.
The tassels were probably made in 1776 by London jewellers Collingwood. It may have been a gift from George III to the Duchess of Marlborough. It has been worn to at least one coronation.
The buyer has not been named, but Mr White Correal confirmed that they were very pleased to have won a bidding battle.
He said: “She said something beautiful to me: ‘I’m exceptionally happy that I won this lot; but I don’t own it, I’m merely the custodian until the next person will come along’.”
Stories can add value to precious stones and jewellery.
This piece is of the type that is normally only found in museums, and the link to one of the most famous legends of a tragic historical figure adds glamour and intrigue.
But single stones often attract the most money. A diamond called the Pink Star was sold for $71.2 million in 2017. Another, called the Oppenheimer Blue, realised $57.5 the year before.
Last week, a square, 37-carat emerald that had been owned by the Aga Khan made just short of $9 million at auction.
The era of the French Revolution is one of the great turning points in history, and its main characters are highly collectible. Marie Antoinette’s pendant was sold for $36.2 million in November 2018.
