A Marie Antoinette Necklace, Valued at $810K, To Be Auctioned
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LONDON — The pearls of Marie Antoinette, who died by guillotine in 1793, are part of a necklace valued at as much as $810,000 that Christie’s International will offer in London on December 12.
An anonymous nobleman is selling the piece, which incorporates 33 of Marie Antoinette’s pearls, Christie’s said in a statement yesterday.
The French queen gave the pearls for safekeeping to Lady Sutherland, the wife of British ambassador George Leveson-Gower, before the embassy pulled out of France in August 1792, Christie’s said. When Marie Antoinette lost her head, the family retained the pearls for more than 200 years, Christie’s said.
The necklace, made for an 1849 wedding of the Sutherland-Leveson-Gower family, has a fringe of 21 gray drop-shaped pearls suspended from a diamond collar, which is set with 12 button-shaped, gold-mounted pearls, the auction house said.
