UNITED KINGDOM: Jewels once owned by French empress Marie Antoinette will be up for auction in London in December

A set of pearls once belonging to Marie Antoinette and taken to Britain by a friend for safekeeping will go on sale in December, and are expected to fetch up to 800,000 US dollars. Now part of a diamond, ruby and pearl necklace, France's last queen gave a bag of pearls and diamonds to Lady Sutherland, the British ambassador's wife, before she fled revolutionary France in 1792, a year before Antoinette's death. Marie Antoinette, legendary for her extravagance, did not know her fate at the time, and would have hoped to be reunited with her treasures one day, according to Raymond Sancroft-Baker, senior director of Christie's jewellery in London. "She hoped -- everybody would in that situation -- that she would survive and she would be able to have a sort of nest egg on leaving," he said. According to Christie's, Sutherland arranged for clothes and linen to be sent to the queen while she was in prison, reported to be the last gesture of kindness shown to the doomed empress. Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine in October 1793. The diamonds were made into a necklace, while the pearls were mounted later for the occasion of the marriage of Sutherland's grandson in 1849. Christie's did not specify which of Sutherland's descendants was selling the necklace. "It's been genuinely difficult for the owner to sell them, having been in the family for over 200 years, but they've always remained in a bank vault and he feels that it is the time to sell them," Sancroft-Baker said. He hoped the pearls, which have never been offered at auction before and remained in the same family for over 200 years, would be made available for the public to see. But with the recent release of a Hollywood movie and various books on Marie Antoinette's life, Sancroft-Baker said the necklace may be snapped up a by a wealthy private buyer wanting a slice of royal history. "The world's changed and there are these people with huge fortunes and they want a piece of history. They want to buy something that belonged to royalty, and it's fantastic to be able to offer something," he said. The necklace will go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewellery sale in London on December 12, and is expected to make between 350,000 and 400,000 pounds (700-800,000 USD).

ITN Source | October 1, 2007

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