Diamond bracelets that belonged to Marie Antoinette and rare coloured diamonds will be on the auction block in Geneva next week, Christie’s said on Wednesday (November 3).
A blue velvet box bearing a label “bracelets of Queen Marie Antoinette” holds the double bracelets, each composed of three strings of diamonds and a large barrette clasp, with a total of 112 diamonds.
The bracelets, now the property of a European royal family, are estimated to fetch $2-4 million at the Nov. 9 sale, Christie’s said.
Max Fawcett, head of Christie’s jewellery department in Geneva, spoke about the rarity of the jewels and said he expects “fireworks” in regards to the price the precious royal jewellery are expected to fetch.
Marie Antoinette, who sent a letter from prison in the Tuileries in Paris that a wooden chest with jewels would be sent for safekeeping, was guillotined in 1793.
Her surviving daughter Marie Therese, Madame Royale, received the jewels on her arrival in Austria, the auction house said.
Along with the royal bracelet, Christies will also offer a 6.75 carats Fancy Vivid Purple-Pink ring diamond, which could fetch 10 million Swiss francs.
A 42.98 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond and diamond ring which could fetch 4 million Swiss francs and a diamond potentially internally flawless weighing 55.50 carat, estimated at 4 million to 5 million Swiss francs, will also go under the hammer on November 9.
Rival Sotheby’s which will offer Russian royal jewels smuggled out of the country during the 1917 revolution, alongside rare, coloured diamonds, on Nov. 10 in Geneva, told Reuters it was looking for deep-pocketed collectors emerging from the pandemic.
