A Diamond Necklace With Ties To Marie Antoinette Doubles Its Low-Estimate At Auction

Though impressive in its own right, the mystique behind the diamond necklace’s sale, which finalized at 4.26 million CHF, or $4.79 million, undoubtedly comes from its somewhat sordid origin story. According to Sotheby’s Head of Magnificent Jewels, Jessica Wyndham, “It’s likely or possible that some of these diamonds may have come from the famous diamond necklace that led to the downfall of Marie Antoinette.”

The Georgian-era piece once formed the cornerstone of the Marquesses of Anglesey’s jewelry collection and was worn by the Marquess at King George VI’s coronation in 1937, and then again by her daughter-in-law 14 years later at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. However, some of the large Golconda-mine diamonds from India donned by the Anglesey Necklace have been traced back to 18th century pre-revolutionary France and are suspected to have played a part in a royal scandal that further corroded Marie Antoinette’s public opinion. 

The necklace, in its current state, consisting of two diamond tassels that can either be worn open or tied together like a scarf, is a far departure from the 650-diamond titanic that King Louis XV once commissioned as a gift for his mistress, Madame du Barry, in 1772. 

Taking place a good 20 years before the revolution, the special gift forged by Parisian jewelers Charles Auguste Boehmer and Paul Bassenge cost an approximate 2,000,000 livres, which would now be $17.5 million. 

Historian Thomas Carlyle has described the 2,800 carat necklace as "a row of seventeen glorious diamonds, as large almost as filberts... a three-wreathed festoon, and pendants enough (simple pear shaped, multiple star-shaped, or clustering amorphous) around a very Queen of Diamonds.” But, by 1774, the King had died of smallpox and left the necklace made, but largely unpaid for. 

Boehmer and Bassenge tried several times to sell the enormous necklace to Louis XVI and his Queen, but were turned down each time. Whether it was due to Marie’s dislike of the maîtresse-en-titre or her awareness that, in the Queen’s words, "we have more need of seventy-fours [ships] than of necklaces," is unknown, but she couldn’t be persuaded. 

That’s when Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy entered the picture. The illegitimate granddaughter of Valois King Henry II, who ruled France between 1547 and 1959, formed a plan to forge Marie Antoinette’s signature in order to procure the necklace. 

By impersonating the Queen during correspondences with a cardinal that wished to re-enter Marie Antoinette’s good-graces, Jeanne and her lover, Rétaux de Villette, planned an elaborate scheme and convinced the Cardinal to purchase the necklace in secret for the Queen. However, once the conspirators had the necklace in their hands, it was quickly picked apart and the diamonds were sold off.

It wasn’t until Boehmer and Bassenge complained to the Queen personally about not having received payment that anyone knew about the forgery. This led to what is now referred to as the 1785 Affair of the Diamond Necklace. Though Marie Antoinette was cleared of all charges in front of a public trial, the masses were convinced the Queen had been in on the plan, and the allegations of involvement solidified her image as a lavish spendthrift. 

The necklace was offered last Wednesday by a private Asian collector and is now headed to another private collection. Andres White Correal, the jewelry department’s chairman at Sotheby’s, told France24 that “the client who bought it is ecstatic. 

She said something beautiful to me, that [she’s] happy that [she’s] won this lot, but [she] doesn’t own it. [She’s] merely the custodian until the next person will come along.” Before heading to the sale block in Geneva, the necklace had visited London, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Taipei, and Dubai as a part of the auction’s global tour.