Marie Antoinette Pendant Sold For $36 Million At Auction
Source: France24
A pearl and diamond pendant owned by Marie Antoinette before she was beheaded during the French Revolution sold for $36 million at an auction on Wednesday, shattering its pre-sale estimate of up to $2 million.
The Sotheby's auction at an ultra-luxurious hotel on the banks of Lake Geneva saw feverish bidding for a 10-piece collection owned by the ill-fated queen, featuring jewels unseen in public for two centuries.
The 10 items, which had been estimated to fetch a total of roughly $3 million, sold for a combined sum of nearly $43 million, Sotheby's said. A diamond brooch pegged to go for roughly $80,000 (70,000 euros) sold for $1.75 million, excluding fees, one of several pieces that brought in more than 20 times its estimated worth.
But the highlight was the pendant featuring an oval diamond and drop-shaped pearl, which Sotheby's said went to an anonymous, private buyer, without giving further details. Sotheby's also said the pendant set a new record price for a pearl jewel sold at auction. -MORE...
Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/20181115-marie-antoinette-france-pendant-sold-36-million-auction-sothebys-geneva
A natural pearl & diamond pendant once owned by Marie Antoinette is held by a model before auction at Sotheby's in Geneva, Nov. 7, 2018.
Marie Antoinette's Jewels Up For Auction, Deutsche Welle, Nov. 14, 2018.
https://www.dw.com/en/marie-antoinettes-jewels-up-for-auction/g-45962831
Pearls, diamonds and initial ring with lock of Marie' hair.
Treasures Of The French Royal Family To Be Auctioned In Paris, 2015
https://www.france24.com/en/20150926-pictures-treasures-french-royal-family-be-auction-paris-sotheby-comte-paris
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)appalachiablue
(41,183 posts)Ilsa
(61,709 posts)We stuff backpacks for school kids to take home on weekends so they don't go hungry, and that snooty mail order bride makes a pic like this. I hope she chokes on it.
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)LudwigPastorius
(9,201 posts)errr....hand size.
Marie Marie
(9,999 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)wiggs
(7,820 posts)3catwoman3
(24,078 posts)...seems rather creepy to me.
appalachiablue
(41,183 posts)3catwoman3
(24,078 posts)Owning anything that belonged to someone who was beheaded is just too macabre for me. Ive got the shivers even thinking about it.
appalachiablue
(41,183 posts)traveled to Europe and we saw the prison cell in the La Conciergerie, the old medieval prison in Paris where Marie was held before her execution in 1783. Was it 'authentic'! Small, dank and dark with her original Bible on a small table and a few other artifacts. I felt like I was in Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities.' King Louis had been executed and their two youngest children died young as well. The eldest, daughter Marie survived to marry but had no children.
What a world then!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conciergerie
Marie Antoinette on the way to the guilliotine, drawn by French artist Jacques-Louis David, Oct. 16, 1793, Paris.
Nitram
(22,915 posts)Not creepy at all. I would balk at a finger, nose, or ear.
3catwoman3
(24,078 posts)...makes it cringe-worthy for me. I would envision the blade of the guiiiotine coming down every time I looked at the brooch.
Nitram
(22,915 posts)msongs
(67,465 posts)Retrograde
(10,165 posts)whether to bid on this or on the Hopper painting, so I just stayed home. Besides, where would I wear it?
Astraea
(473 posts)Congratulations to the lucky .001%er!!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)tikka
(762 posts)milestogo
(16,829 posts)I guess its difficult to wear a pendant after you've been beheaded.
Nitram
(22,915 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,840 posts)They couldn't remove the pearls until the head was. Pesky thing was in the way.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)We had a devil of a time getting that off of him.
In retrospect, cutting the head off would have saved a lot of time.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)But that thing is way too gaudy for a beheading. Hoop earrings add a nice touch, though.
Nitram
(22,915 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Nitram
(22,915 posts)I don't want to guillotine them, I just want to tax them.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)I mean, the folks in France just wanted to tax them too. But they kept saying "non".
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)EarthFirst
(2,905 posts)I hope these pieces bring nothing but misery and misfortune to those who purchased them!
Nitram
(22,915 posts)tavernier
(12,410 posts)and she wasnt the cruel person she was depicted to be and she never made the cake statement. The times Ive been to France, the people speak very kindly of her, owing to a better understanding of that period of history.
I think her jewelry should be a part of French history, and in a proper museum. I recall that Paris has a few of those.