Diamond necklace valued at up to $2.8 million to be auctioned

A rare diamond necklace with possible links to former French queen consort Marie Antoinette is going up for auction in November with an estimated price of up to $2.8 million.

The 18th-century jewel, weighing 300 carats, was made in the decade before the French Revolution of 1789 and was last seen in public in 1973 before being sold to a private collection.

Comprised of three rows of diamonds with diamond tassels at each end, the piece went on public display for the first time in 50 years on Monday at Sotheby's London showrooms.

“Diamonds always had a new use and because the Golconda mines in India became extinct at the end of the 18th century, most of the 18th century jewellery, to follow the fashion, was destroyed,” Andres White Correal, president and head of Sotheby's Royal and Noble Sales for Europe and the Middle East, told Reuters.

“Therefore, to have an intact 18th century jewel of this magnitude, size and the importance of the diamonds, is exceptionally rare.”

It is believed that some of its diamonds may have come from the infamous “Affair of the Diamond Necklace” piece, which tarnished the reputation of Marie Antoinette, the unpopular last queen consort of France before the French Revolution.

The necklace belonged to the Marquesses of Anglesey, an Anglo-Welsh aristocratic family, whose members wore it at the coronations of King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth in 1953.

The necklace will be offered for sale at Sotheby's “Royal & Noble Jewels” sale in Geneva on November 11.