Queen Marie Antoinette's jewels surface, up for auction
Jewelry that once belonged to doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette will be auctioned at Sotheby's in Switzerland, where it is expected to sell for millions of dollars.
Jewelry that once belonged to the doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette is set to go on auction in Switzerland Wednesday, where it is expected to sell for millions of dollars.
The daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Teresa and wife of King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, was guillotined in October 1793 during the height of the French Revolution. Her husband had been executed nine months earlier.
The auction offers a glimpse into the opulent world of the French court during its twilight years.
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Diamond and pearl earrings, pearl necklaces and a giant pearl pendant owned by the ill-fated queen are among the heirlooms from the Bourbon-Parma dynasty to be auctioned by Sotheby’s.
An 18th century Pearl Diamond pendant previously belonging to Marie Antoinette is displayed at Sotheby's auction house on Oct.19, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Some of the artifacts in the auction haven't been seen publicly for 200 years, fueling interest in the sale.
Arguably, the highlight piece is "Queen Marie Antoinette's Pearl," a diamond-and-pearl pendant estimated to fetch between $1 million and $2 million — maybe more. It features a drop-shaped, 2.58-cm (about 1-inch) natural pearl that outsizes the Peregrina that was once in Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor's collection.
The diamond-and-pearl-pendant is believed to have been among jewels packed up when Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI prepared to flee France. Packed in a wooden box, they were transported secretly to Brussels and then to Vienna, according to Sotheby's. In Vienna the jewels came into the safekeeping of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Marie Antoinette's nephew. The auction house says that the jewels have been passed down through the generations to their present owners.
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“It is one of the most important royal jewelry collections ever to appear on the market and each and every jewel is absolutely imbued with history,” said Danila Mascetti, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Jewelry Europe, in a statement. “Never before seen in public, this extraordinary group of jewels offers a captivating insight into the lives of its owners going back hundreds of years.”
The jewelry once belonged to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Marie Antoinette, who was 37 at the time of her death, has become synonymous with the decadence of the French monarchy during the pre-revolutionary era. Historians, however, believe that she never uttered the famous words “let them eat cake.” The quote has long been attributed to the queen, who had purportedly just been informed that her starving subjects had no bread.
This is not the first time that Marie Antoinette’s jewels have been up for auction. However, Reuters reports that a necklace containing pearls that once belonged to the queen failed to sell when it was up for auction in 2007.
The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers