See the Dazzling Diamond Necklace With Possible Ties to Marie Antoinette That Just Sold for $4.8 Million

A diamond necklace with a possible link to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, has sold for $4.8 million at auction.

The glittering, 300-carat necklace is laden with gems that may have contributed to the 18th-century queen’s downfall. It’s also been worn at two British coronations.

Experts with Sotheby’s, the auction house that sold the necklace, say that some of its sparkling stones may have contributed to a royal scandal known as the “affair of the diamond necklace.”

The 1785 incident involved a noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte who was a “confidence trickster,” according to the Château de Versailles. She pretended to be Marie Antoinette, then absconded with an opulent, 2,800-carat necklace made of nearly 650 diamonds.

Marie Antoinette was acquitted in court, but her reputation took a hit nonetheless. The trial “did little to diminish her growing notoriety for extravagance, which helped fuel the revolution and the overthrow of the French monarch,” writes Reuters’ Cecile Mantovani.

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Marie Antoinette was executed eight years later, following the execution of her husband, Louis XVI.

Diamonds from the scandalous piece of jewelry were sold off, with one jeweler purchasing 350 of them for $12,700 (£10,000), as Artnet’s Verity Babbs reports.

Some of the diamonds may have been incorporated into the recently auctioned necklace, according to Sotheby’s.

At the very least, the necklace “could only have been created for royalty or a high-ranking aristocrat at one of the glittering courts of the ancient regime—most likely the French or English court,” according to the auction house.

It features 500 diamonds that likely came from India’s Golconda mines. The necklace, which is from the Georgian era, is made of three long parallel strands with a diamond tassel on each end. It can be worn open at the neck, or with the strands crossed like a scarf.

“It is a masterpiece of the Georgian era and a masterclass in design, workmanship and technical innovation for the period,” says Andres White Correal, a jewelry expert with Sotheby’s, in a catalog note. “Today, it is as relevant, alluring and appealing as when it was made over 200 years ago.”

At one time, the necklace belonged to the Pagets, a British aristocratic family with close ties to the British royal family. Marjorie Paget, the Marchioness of Anglesey, wore the necklace to George VI’s coronation in 1937. Her daughter-in-law also wore the necklace to Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.

Sometime in the 1960s, the family either sold or gave away the necklace. In 1976, it was included in an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

At the “Royal and Noble Jewels” auction in Geneva on November 13, the necklace spurred a lengthy bidding war. An unnamed buyer eventually won out.

“The client who bought it is ecstatic,” says White Correal, per France24’s Oliver Farry. “She was ready to fight, and she did. … [The necklace] will be worn and very much loved.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.