This historic necklace was once worn during royal coronations and is believed to be linked to the scandal that tarnished Marie-Antoinette’s reputation.
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A sumptuous diamond necklace dating from the 18th century was sold on Thursday for 4.5 million euros, far exceeding expectations (between 1.7 and 2.6 million euros). This historic piece, weighing around 300 carats and made up of around 500 diamonds, was presented as part of Sotheby’s “Royal and Noble” sale in Geneva.
The necklace, which once belonged to the upper aristocracy, was worn at royal coronations and is believed to have been purchased by a woman whose identity has not been revealed.
“There is clearly a niche market for historic jewelry with a fabulous story. People are not just buying the item, they are buying the whole story that goes with it.”indicated a representative of the famous auction house.
The diamonds, believed to originally come from the Golconda mines in India, are renowned for their exceptional clarity and rarity, given that the mines closed more than two centuries ago.
But it is above all the sulphurous nature of the necklace which has, it seems, unleashed passions among collectors.
“It was worn in the 1930s by the 6th Marchioness of Anglesey, whose husband owned it, in a photograph immortalized by Cecil Beaton, showing the glamor and style of the era. You would never have thought that she was wearing an 18th century jewel”, explains Andres White Correal, head of royal and noble sales at Sotheby’s.
The affair of the necklace
To add to its appeal, unconfirmed speculation indicates that some of the diamonds in the necklace may be linked to the infamous 18th-century scandal known as the “Necklace Affair”, which stained Marie Antoinette’s reputation at the day before the French Revolution.
This extravagant diamond necklace (worth approximately €16.45 million in today’s money), was originally commissioned by King Louis XV for his mistress, Madame du Barry. The Parisian jewelers who made it – Charles Auguste Böhmer and Paul Bassenge – found themselves in debt when Louis XV died before purchasing it. They then tried to sell the necklace to his successor, King Louis XVI, hoping that his queen, Marie-Antoinette, would want it, but she refused.
However, in 1784, a con artist named Jeanne de La Motte hatched a cunning plan to convince her lover, Cardinal de Rohan, a high-ranking clergyman, that Marie Antoinette secretly desired the necklace. Jeanne de La Motte then allegedly forged letters and arranged for a prostitute to pose as the queen in order to trick Rohan into buying the necklace for her.
After recovering the necklace, Jeanne de la Motte dismantled it and shipped her diamonds to London where they were resold on the black market (it would be some of these diamonds that would make up the necklace sold this week at Sotheby’s).
In France, payment for the necklace was never honored and the jewelers Boehmer and Bassenge then contacted the queen herself directly to be reimbursed, but she was not at all aware of the situation.
Following the scandal, a trial took place. Jeanne de la Motte was imprisoned, Cardinal de Rohan was acquitted and Marie-Antoinette… exonerated. But the affair caused so much noise that it permanently damaged the image of the queen and that of the monarchy. The rest is known: the French Revolution and the beheading four years later of Louis XVI and his wife.
