A rare pink diamond, purported to have been owned by Marie Antoinette, is going under the hammer next month.
This unique opportunity to buy the historic gem is part of an upcoming sale at Christie’s in New York titled ‘Magnificent Jewels’, where stones of varying shapes, sizes and soaring values will be auctioned off.
The ‘Marie-Thérèse Pink Diamond’, whose list of owners has featured Queen Marie Theresa of Bavaria and Marie Antoinette’s daughter, Duchess Marie-Thérèse d’Angoulême, has been reimagined in a contemporary context for modern buyers.
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Parisian jeweller-supreme Joel Arthur Rosenthal (JAR) set the stone upon a diamond-encrusted ring, which was fittingly crowned with the fleur-de-lis, the stamp of French royalty.
The ring is estimated to make between $3 to $5 million, although the number could far exceed expectations.
Another royal relic up for sale is ‘The Blue Belle’, a sapphire and diamond necklace. Once intended to be a gift for Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) to commemorate George VI’s coronation in 1937, it never made it into her hands. It last came up for auction over 10 years ago in Geneva, after having passed through the ownership of many a bejewelled buyer.
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‘This remarkable stone must be considered among the most prestigious coloured gemstones to appear on the market in many years – truly worthy of any world-class collection,’ said Christie’s international head of jewellery, Rahul Kadakia.
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Sitting at its centre is a 392.52 carat Sri Lankan sapphire, discovered in 1926. And of course, a magnificent jewel warrants a magnificent price – ‘The Blue Belle’ has been given an auction estimate of $8-12 million.
Alongside these two notable jewels are a range of pieces which have been made by some of the world’s oldest and most well-established jewellers. Among them are a diamond and ruby brooch from Van Cleef & Arpels, a diamond and sapphire ring from Chaumet and a diamond and emerald brooch (in the shape of a panther) from Cartier.
For those who want to get straight to the point – and the stone – Christie’s have unmounted jewels on offer too. An unmounted diamond weighing in at a substantial 66.74 carats tops this category, with an sale estimate of $3.2-4.2 million.
The live auction will take place on 17 June at the Rockefeller Center in New York City.
