A necklace with a connection to the wife of the French King Louis XVI and France’s final Queen, Marie Antoinette, has sold for 4.26 million CHF ($4.79 million) at Sotheby’s in Geneva. The necklace, made from over 500 diamonds, was the final lot in Sotheby’s “Royal and Nobel Jewels” auction on November 13 in Geneva and more than doubled its low estimate.

The necklace is believed to contain diamonds from the infamous 1785 Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which saw Marie Antoinette’s reputation left in tatters just eight years ahead of her execution. The Affair centered around Jeanne de la Motte, a noblewoman fallen on hard times, who claimed to be Antoinette when purchasing (but without actually paying for) a lavish necklace. When the fraud was discovered, it was insinuated that Marie Antoinette was involved, and her reputation was tarnished even after she was acquitted in court of any involvement.

Photo courtesy Sotheby’s.

The controversial necklace was made up of nearly 650 diamonds (weighing almost 2,800 carats) and which were later sold separately. One Bond Street jeweler said he purchased 350 of them for over £10,000 ($12,700), according to Sotheby’s. Jessica Wyndham, Sotheby’s head of magnificent jewels said that “it’s likely or possible that some of these diamonds may have come from the famous diamond necklace that led to the downfall of Marie Antoinette.” Objects associated with the flamboyant Queen of France often garner media and collector attention when they come to auction.

The Georgian-era necklace consists of two diamond tassels joined by three rows of diamonds, weighing about 300 carats and stretching out to over 26 inches. It can be worn loose or tied at the front like a scarf. The necklace has been dated back to the decade preceding the French Revolution, and its diamonds—large and from the Golconda mines of India—would have only been accessible to the absolute wealthiest members of society.

The necklace’s most recent public appearance was in 1979 as part of the American Museum of Natural History’s Bicentennial Exhibition in New York, but its most famous 20th-century outing was when it was worn by the wife of the 7th Marquess of Anglesey, Shirley Morgan, at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The Marquess had inherited the jewel, which had been also been worn to the coronation of King George VI in 1937 by her mother-in-law, the wife of the 6th Marquess, Marjorie Paget. Sotheby’s called Paget “one of the most celebrated and best-dressed society women of the first half of the 20th century” who “habitually landed on the pages of Vogue and Tatler.”

Marjorie Paget wearing the diamond necklace posing for a photograph taken by Cecil Beaton. Courtesy Condé Nast / Sotheby’s.

Before heading under the hammer, the necklace was part of a global tour this autumn organized by Sotheby’s, visiting London, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Taipei, and Dubai before landing in Geneva for the auction.

The necklace was being sold by a private Asian collector and was purchased by another private collector. Andres White Correal, the chairman of the jewelry department at Sotheby’s, told France24 that “the client who bought it is ecstatic.” He added: “She said something beautiful to me, that [she’s] happy that [she’s] won this lot, but [she] doesn’t own it. [She’s] merely the custodian until the next person will come along.” And although one might think that a jewel from the 18th-century wouldn’t be wearable, he said, “it will be worn” for certain.