Jewelry that once belonged to the
notoriously lavishMarie Antoinette, the last queen of France before
the French Revolution, has madeauction history
Held in private European collections for more than two-hundred
years, ten royal jewels that belonged to the Marie Antoinette, as
well as numerous baubles from her descendants, have fetched record
prices at Sotheby’s.
Before her demise in 1793, Marie Antoinette had the foresight to
send many of her precious jewels back to her family under cover of
night, as she prepared to escape from the armed revolutionaries
surrounding the besieged Palace of the Tuileries. The carefully
concealed jewels were transported from Paris to Brussels to Vienna,
into the safekeeping of Marie Antoinettes nephew, the Austrian
Emperor. Sothebys auctioned offan unprecedented number of jewels
with royal provenance, ten of which can be traced back to Marie
Antoinette herself. The treasures had not been seen publicly in
nearly two-and-a-half centuries.
The star lot of the auction, Marie Antoinette’s diamond and
pearl pendant, sold for an incredible $36M (28M) after initiating a
fierce bidding war of collectors keen on owning a piece of history.
Valued at approximately $2M, it easily beat out the previous record
for a pearl sold at auctiona necklace belonging to the late
Elizabeth Taylor, which sold for $11.8 million in 2011. Other
distinctive pieces that found new owners included a sapphire, ruby,
and diamond brooch and a monogram diamond ring bearing a lock of
the iconic queens hair.
The collection, Royal Jewels From the Bourbon-Parma Family,
featured jewelry spanning centuries of European history, from the
18thcentury reign of Louis XVI to the fall of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire a century ago. The Bourbon-Parma family was
one of Europes most distinguished dynasties, producing kings of
France and Spain, emperors of Austria, and, of course, the line of
the Dukes of Parma. The entire collection sold for over 53M.
The Marie Antoinette provenance is probably second to none. Its
a record for a sale of royal jewels, David Bennett, Chairman of
Sothebys International Jewelry Division who conducted the Geneva,
Switzerland auction on the 14 of November, told reporters.
I cant imagine more important pieces coming to auction unless
something from Queen Elizabeth I became available, and thats not
going to happen, added Frank Everett, Sales Director of Sothebys
Luxury and Lifestyle Division. I dont know what will ever match it
again. I might have to retire.
To learn more about the record-smashing collection, visit the
Sothebys website
here.
To view full results from the sale, which achieved a total of
CHF 53,522,875, click
here.