Marie Antoinette's 300-Carat Diamond Necklace Sent to the Guillotine Sells for 6.8 Billion Won

After Fierce Competition, Sold at More Than Twice the Estimated Price

A 300-carat diamond necklace, believed to have been the catalyst for the downfall of French Queen Marie Antoinette, was sold at auction for approximately 6.8 billion KRW. This price is more than double the initial estimate.

Diamond necklace sold for 4.26 million Swiss francs (approximately 6.8 billion KRW) at Sotheby's auction. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News.

According to AFP and other sources on the 13th (local time), Sotheby's, an auction house, announced that a 300-carat diamond necklace made in the 18th century was sold for a record 4.26 million Swiss francs (about 6.8 billion KRW) at an auction held in Geneva, Switzerland. The necklace was originally estimated to be worth 2 million francs (about 3.2 billion KRW), but after fierce bidding, it was sold for more than twice the expected price.

The necklace, put up for auction by a private collector from Asia, was made during the Georgian era in 18th-century England. It features approximately 500 diamonds arranged in three rows, with two tassel decorations finishing both ends.

Sotheby's speculated that some of the diamonds used in this necklace might have originated from the "Necklace Affair," which sparked the French Revolution. In 1785, Jeanne de la Motte, a poor French noblewoman, impersonated a close confidante of Queen Antoinette and approached Cardinal Louis de Rohan. She deceived him into acting as an intermediary to purchase a necklace made of over 600 diamonds, claiming the queen wanted it, then absconded without paying.

Although Queen Antoinette was eventually proven innocent through trial, the incident further cemented her image as extravagant. This fueled public outrage, igniting the French Revolution, and ultimately led to the execution of Queen Antoinette and King Louis XVI by guillotine in 1793.

After the revolution, most of the original necklace's diamonds were broken up and sold piece by piece on the black market, making them largely untraceable. However, some experts believe that the quality and age of the diamonds in the recently auctioned necklace match those from the Necklace Affair.

One of the previous owners was the Duke of Anglesey in England, and Sotheby's reported that his family wore the necklace at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. The detailed history of who designed the necklace and for whom it was commissioned remains unknown.