There’s no more fascinating subject in historical past than the doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette. Much maligned by historical past (she in no way said “Let them eat cake,” in response for the people’s need for bread), she was an unwilling component of the one in the greatest revolutions in historical past.
And met an untimely end at the guillotine in 1793. While she loved jewelry, and possessed numerous magnificent jewels, she frequently preferred straightforward muslin gowns and quite little jewelry. Several of the portraits of her by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun show her dressed just like that.
Two big, pear-shaped diamond earrings, weighing 14.25 and 20.34 carats respectively, are part on the Smithsonian Institution’s collection. The diamonds once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to Marie Antoinette and some sources say they were her favorite pieces of jewelry and she wore them constantly. They had been taken from her during an attempt to flee France as the Revolution dawned and also the position in the Royals became dangerous.
The diamonds have been later acquired by the Grand Duchess Tatiana Yousupoff of Russia. When jeweler Pierre Cartier puchased the diamond earrings in 1928, their authenticity was attested to in an affidavit by Russian Princess Zenaide Yousupoff and her son, Prince Felix Yousupoff, stating that they originally belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette and have never been reset in the one hundred years that they had been inside family.
Marjorie Merriweather Post acquired the earrings from Pierre Cartier in October 1928. Harry Winston reset the huge diamonds in platinum replicas on the original silver settings in 1959. Cartier, Inc. designed the triangular tops. In November 1964, Mrs. Post’s daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Barzin, donated the earrings, along with the original setting for the Smithsonian Institution. The diamonds are originally from India or Brazil, the only significant sources of diamonds inside eighteenth century.
Brad Handsome manages Diamond Jewelry site and an author of Jewelry Review
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