Editor’s Note
This article details the upcoming auction of a rare pink diamond with a storied royal provenance, believed to have been owned by Queen Marie Antoinette and her daughter. The piece highlights the historical significance and anticipated interest surrounding this exceptional jewel.
An exceptional pink diamond, believed to have belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of France and later to her daughter, Marie Thérèse, will be presented at Christie’s ‘Magnificent Jewels’ auction at the Rockefeller Center on June 17.
It is an exceptional jewel, specifically a 10.38-carat gemstone set in a ring created by the renowned jeweler Joel Arthur Rosenthal. According to the auction house, the design, cut in a kite shape, dates from the mid-18th century.
According to royal tradition, the night before her failed attempt to flee Paris in 1791, the queen entrusted her most valuable jewels to her hairdresser in the hope of recovering them in the future. Although this did not happen, they passed into the hands of her daughter, and, although there is no absolute certainty, it is presumed that the pink diamond was part of that inheritance.
Marie Thérèse is said to have bequeathed it to her cousin, the Duchess of Chambord, before the diamond entered the collections of Queen Maria Theresa of Bavaria, who affectionately nicknamed it ‘the solitary pink diamond of Aunt Chambord’.
Stored in a velvet case alongside a hatpin decorated with the Austrian imperial trophy, this jewel symbolized the imperial legacy of its owners. It remained in the royal family for several generations, until it was finally auctioned in Geneva in 1996.
Thus, the gem passed from hand to hand over the years until it reached that auction in Geneva, after which it has remained out of public view.
Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewelry, presents the piece as a “truly special diamond,” noting that it is an 18th-century fancy purplish-pink diamond, likely originating from the legendary Golconda mines in India. It is estimated that it could reach a price of between $3 and $5 million at auction.
This is not the first time that Queen Marie Antoinette’s belongings have been auctioned. In 2021, two bracelets owned by the queen, both covered with nearly 100 diamonds, were sold for a high price.
Likewise, a diamond necklace, allegedly linked to the scandal that precipitated Marie Antoinette’s downfall, was auctioned in Geneva for 4.26 million Swiss francs (4.55 million euros) in 2024.
In 2018, another piece, which also belonged to Marie Antoinette, adorned with a natural pearl of exceptional size, was auctioned by Sotheby’s for $36 million, despite its estimated value being between $1 and $2 million.
