Marie Antoinette's pearls to fetch more than $700,000

This historically important necklace, which features pearls that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, is up for auction on Dec. 12.

London—By now, the much-maligned "Let them eat cake" phrase, attributed to Marie Antoinette's treatment of the poor, has been ruled out as nothing more than a fable.

That's not to say, however, that the most-famed queen of France's legacy of extreme extravagance is at all false. Marie Antoinette continues to be remembered for the exorbitant amount of money she spent on everything from clothing to jewels.

Auction house Christie's is now offering a part of that legacy to the public. In its upcoming "Magnificent Jewellery" sale, to be held on Dec. 12, Christie's is offering a historically important natural-pearl, diamond and ruby necklace, the pearls of which belonged to Marie Antoinette.

The necklace has never before been offered at auction, and the pearls have been in the same family for more than 200 years, Christie's said in a statement. The necklace is estimated to fetch between about $711,830 and $813,520.

The necklace was made in 1849 and features a fringe of 21 graduated drop-shaped natural gray pearls, each suspended from an old-cut diamond collet surmounted to a diamond ribbon. The ribbon is intertwined with a ruby collar that is set with 12 button-shaped natural gray pearls, mounted in gold.

The historically important pearls came into the possession of Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the Lady Sutherland, during Marie Antoinette's imprisonment at the height of the French Revolution. The queen gave the pearls, along with the diamonds, to Lady Sutherland for safekeeping.

Anyone caught in possession of this jewelry risked severe punishment, but Lady Sutherland, the wife of the British ambassador, had diplomatic immunity, so she was one of the few who could be trusted to return the jewels when the queen escaped.

The plan was never realized, however. Marie Antoinette was put to death by guillotine in 1793 on the precept of treason.

The diamonds were later fashioned into the Sutherland diamond necklace, and the pearls were mounted on the occasion of the marriage of Lady Sutherland's grandson George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower to Anne Hay-McKenzie.

"It is exceptionally rare to be able to offer jewels that belonged to Marie Antoinette and which are completely fresh to the market," Raymond Sancroft-Baker, senior director of Christie's Jewellery, London, said in a statement. "The story behind the pearls and their integral integration into this necklace for the Sutherland-Leveson-Gower family wedding in 1849 adds to the fascinating history of this necklace."
Source: nationaljewelernetwork