Ex-French queen's necklace sets auction record

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA

A pearl and diamond pendant of former French Queen Marie Antoinette's sold for 32 million Swiss Francs ($31.8 million) during an auction in Geneva late Wednesday.

An anonymous buyer purchased the necklace.

The pendant was part of a major jewel of the the last queen of France.

Sotheby's auction house international jewelry chief David Bennett said the sale set a new “world record” in royal jewelry sales in an auction.

A senior executive of Sotheby's auction house, Daniela Mascetti, told Anadolu Agency it was an excellent sale since there has not been any pearl necklaces sold for such an high price and it was a sale of the century for a jewel like this one.

Married to French King Louis the 16th, Antoinette is regarded as an ill-fated queen as she was guillotined in Paris at the age of 37 during the French Revolution.