The necklace containing around 300 carats of diamonds was bought by an unidentified woman who put in her bid over the phone, Sotheby's said.

The magnificent necklace may contain diamonds involved in a scandal surrounding Marie-Antoinette, that would eventually trigger the French Revolution.

A diamond necklace that has been worn at two British coronations, and is thought to contain stones from the infamous necklace at the heart of a Marie Antoinette scandal, sold for over $4.8 million at an auction.

How the Affair of the Diamond Necklace changed history—and why 18th-century jewelry remains an eternal holy grail.

A necklace thought to contain diamonds from an earlier necklace which embroiled Marie Antoinette in scandal has found success at auction.

Experts say some of the stones in the piece are a match with the original diamonds central to a royal scandal.

A 300-carat necklace, whose diamonds have been linked to a scandal involving the last French queen Marie Antoinette, sold Wednesday for nearly $5 million at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva.

The piece was at the centre of a scandal in the 1780s known as the 'Diamond Necklace Affair' in which a hard-up noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte pretended to be the French queen and acquired the necklace in her name without payment.

A diamond-studded necklace thought to be linked to a scandal that hastened the downfall of the doomed 18th century queen of France, Marie Antoinette, sold at auction in Geneva on Wednesday for 4.26 million Swiss francs ($4.

The 300-carat necklace thought to be at the center of the infamous 'Affair of the Diamond Necklace' that contributed to the French Revolution sold at auction in Geneva

"There is obviously a niche in the market for historical jewels with fabulous provenances," Sotheby's jewelry specialist Andres White Correal said after a diamond-studded necklace with a possible link to Marie Antoinette's downfall sold for more than double the pre-sale estimate.