The necklace passed through history before ending up in an auction in Geneva. Estimated between 1.8 and 2.8 million dollars, it was finally sold to an anonymous buyer for the modest sum of 4.5 million euros.
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“She was ready to fight, and she did”says Andres White Correal, head of the jewelry department at Sotheby’s Europe (auction company). An anonymous buyer won a magnificent necklace of nearly 500 300-carat diamonds. More than its value, it is also the history of the jewel which attracted the crowds.
The neglected one, which has crossed the centuries intact by “miracle”, according to Andres White Correal was estimated between 1.8 and 2.8 million dollars. After very lively bidding, the necklace was finally sold for 3.55 million Swiss francs (3.79 million euros), reaching after taxes and commissions the sum of 4.26 million Swiss francs (4.55 million euros).
“There is clearly a niche in the market for historic jewelry with fabulous provenance. (…) People are not just buying the item, they are also buying the whole story attached to it“, detailed the auction professional. To add to the appeal of this exceptional piece, some of the diamonds that make up the necklace come from a jewel at the center of the famous “Queen’s Necklace Affair” which had further tarnished Marie-Antoinette’s reputation.
This spectacular antique gem is an incredible survivor of history.
Sotheby’sAuction Company
“It passed from family to family. We can start at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was in the collection of the Marquess of Anglesey,” said Mr. White Correal. “Members of this aristocratic family are said to have worn the jewel twice in public: once at the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and once at the coronation of his daughter Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.”
According to Sotheby’s, the diamonds likely came from the legendary Golconda mines in India, considered to produce the purest diamonds in the world. “The lucky buyer left with a spectacular historical piece”said Tobias Kormind, director of 77 Diamonds, Europe’s largest online jeweler.
“With diamonds of exceptional quality from India’s legendary, now extinct Golconda mines, the story of a possible connection to Marie Antoinette and the fact that it was worn at two coronations, it all makes this truly special necklace”, he concluded.
