Rare diamond necklace with possible Marie Antoinette link, heads to auction

The Manila Times

Rare diamond necklace with possible Marie Antoinette link, heads to auction  A rare diamond necklace with possible links to former French queen consort Marie Antoinette is to be auctioned in November with a price estimate of up to $2.8 million.   The 18th century jewel, weighing 300 carats, was made in the decade before the 1789 French Revolution and was last seen in public in 1973 before being sold into a private collection.   Made up of three rows of diamonds with diamond tassels at each end, the piece went on public display for the first time in 50 years on Monday (September 23) at Sotheby's London showrooms.   It is thought some of its diamonds may have come from the infamous "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" piece that tarnished the reputation of Marie Antoinette, the unpopular last queen consort of France before the French Revolution.   The necklace did belong to the Marquesses of Anglesey, an Anglo-Welsh aristocratic family, with members wearing it to the coronations of King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth in 1953.     REUTERS VIDEO   Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews  #marieantoinette

Transcript

00:00Could you just go a little bit to your right with the light please?

00:18And then you sort of hold it like if you were doing...

00:22The lower you put it, the less diamonds you have to go around your neck.

00:27It is so rare because diamonds were always repurposed.

00:53And because the mines of Gokonda in India went extinct at the end of the 18th century,

01:03most of the 18th century jewels, in order to keep with fashion, were broken up.

01:08So to have an 18th century jewel intact of this magnitude of size

01:15and the importance of the diamonds is exceptionally rare.

01:19There are 500 stones nearly and the carats are between one and one and a half diamonds

01:29from the fabled mines of Gokonda in India.

01:36This is a symphony of gold, diamonds and silver.

01:41The back of the necklace is all mounted in gold to give it structure.

01:47They knew already in the 18th century that diamonds would be highlighted with a lighter metal around it.

01:55So it's silver.

01:56Now you would see the beautiful patina of 200 years.

02:00Hence there is some black into the colour.

02:03But it would have originally been completely shiny and white,

02:08enhancing the colour of these 500 diamonds, circa 300 carats.

02:38For more information visit www.ISGlobal.org

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