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SOTHEBY'S

Marie Antoinette’s exquisite jewels up for auction in Geneva

Diamonds and pearls that once belonged to French King Louis XVI's Queen Marie-Antoinette and have never been seen in public are to go on sale.

Marie Antoinette's exquisite jewels up for auction in Geneva
A diamond parure composed of 95 diamonds, including five solitaire diamonds that belonged to Marie-Antoinette. Photo: Sotheby's/AFP

Sotheby's said the auction of more than 100 lots, all owned by the Bourbon-Parma family, will be held in Geneva on November 12th.

“This is one of the most important collections of royal jewellery ever to come to market,” said Daniela Mascetti of Sotheby's Europe.

“Kept out of view, never seen in public, this extraordinary collection offers a fascinating glimpse of the life of this family in centuries gone by,” she added in a statement. 

Photo: An inside view of the Queen's Hamlet, in the Versailles Castle estate, built for Marie-Antoinette between 1783 and 1787, after restoration work. Photo: AFP

Marie Antoinette's diamond pendant with an exceptional natural pearl is expected to fetch up to $2 million (€1.7 million).

A necklace of more than 300 natural pearls has been valued at up to $300,000 (€255,000) and a pair of pearl drop earrings 50,000 dollars.

“Renowned for her extravagance and the splendour and lavishness of her court, Marie Antoinette is very often portrayed wearing pearls,” Sotheby's noted.

The sale will include jewels from other royal families up to the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, all owned by the Bourbon-Parma family.

A parure of 95 diamonds, including five solitaires once in the queen's possession and valued at up to $500,000, will go under the hammer.

An opulent diamond tiara offered by Emperor Franz-Josef to his great niece the Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria on her marriage in 1902 to Elias of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, has  an estimated value of up to $120,000.

When Louis, Marie Antoinette and their children tried to flee the French Revolution in March 1791, the royal jewels were smuggled out of the country into the trust of a confidant in Brussels.

He sent them on to her nephew the Emperor of Austria who later gave them to Marie Antoinette's only surviving child Marie Therese of France.

“Most of the jewels in the collection were given to Robert I (1848-1907), the last sovereign Duke of Parma and Piacenza, by his mother, Louise of France (1819-1864), grand-daughter of King Charles X of France and great niece of Marie Antoinette,” Sotheby's said.

On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette was guillotined as the revolutionary Reign of Terror raged. The following month Louis XVI met a similar fate. 

Read also: Diamond once set in crown of French kings to be auctioned in Geneva

DIAMOND

Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva

An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.

Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
A model poses with the “The Spirit of the Rose” diamond during a press preview on Friday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Named “The Spirit of the Rose” after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category — “fancy vivid purple-pink”.
 
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement. “Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.”
   
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was “completely pure.”
 
 
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The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa — one of the world's leading diamond producers — in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
   
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
   
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the “CTF Pink Star”, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
   
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
   
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
   
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.
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