Editor’s Note: This article was updated with the final sale price and other details following the auction’s conclusion. A diamond necklace that has been worn at two British coronations, and is thought to contain stones from the infamous necklace at the heart of a Marie Antoinette scandal, sold for over 4.2 million Swiss francs ($4.
8 million) at an auction in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. Weighing approximately 300 carats, the 18th-century piece was likely created a decade before the French Revolution. A touring exhibition ahead of the auction marked the first time it was seen in public in 50 years, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the sale.
Despite the exact origins of the necklace not being recorded, the auction house believes the antique piece could only have been made for royalty or a high-ranking aristocrat. In the early 20th century, it belonged to the Marquesses of Anglesey, a leading aristocratic family in the UK with close ties to the British royal family, Sotheby’s said. Marjorie Paget, marchioness of Anglesey, wore the necklace to the coronation of King George VI in 1937.
Her daughter-in-law then wore the same jewel to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, according to a press release published ahead of the sale. After the family parted with the diamond piece in the 1960s, it was exhibited in the American Museum of Natural History before being acquired by a private collector. “This rare and important diamond jewel is a sublime survivor fro.
