マリー・アントワネットのダイヤのブレスレット　９億円で落札

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス最後の王妃マリー・アントワネットが所有していたダイヤモンドのブレスレット２点が９日、初めて競売にかけられ、７４５万９０００スイス・フラン（約９億２０００万円）で落札された。競売は、スイス・ジュネーブで行われた。（写真はマリー・アントワネットのダイヤのブレスレット）
　英競売大手クリスティーズは、オールドカットのダイヤ計１１２個があしらわれた、それぞれ長さ１８．７センチ、重さ９７グラムのブレスレットについて「王妃の魅惑と栄光、ドラマが染み込んでいる」とうたっていた。
　落札価格の７４５万９０００スイス・フラン（諸経費含む）は、予想落札価格２００万～４００万スイス・フラン（約２億５０００万～４億９０００万円）を大きく上回るものとなった。
　１７９１年３月、国王ルイ１６世と妻のマリー・アントワネットは、子どもらと共にフランス革命から逃れようと試みた。王家の宝飾品は国外にひそかに持ち出され、ベルギー・ブリュッセルの友人に託された。
　その後、ブレスレットは王妃の祖国オーストリアの親族にわたり、数世代にわたって引き継がれた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/11/11-15:10）

Two diamond bracelets once belonging to Marie Antoinette and imbued with her glamour, glory and drama according to Christie's auction house, sold for more than $8 million on Tuesday.
It was the first time that the bracelets, made up of 112 old-cut diamonds, had ever gone under the hammer.
Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution, was guillotined in Paris aged 37 in October 1793.
Her style defines the unique aesthetics of Versailles: opulent and regal, yet youthful and romantic. A tastemaker extraordinaire, then and now, said Christie's Europe chairman Francois Curiel.
Their royal provenance is impeccable; not only is their line of heritage unbroken and traceable from 1776 onwards, but the bracelets have been featured in two famous historic paintings, said Curiel.
These bracelets travelled through time to recount a most important era of French history, with its glamour, glory and drama.
The bracelets are 18.7 centimetres long and each weighs 97 grammes.
They sold for 7,459,000 Swiss francs ($8.19 million), including premiums, at the auction in Geneva.
They had been estimated to go for 2-4 million Swiss francs.
The first bid was five million francs -- that's how excited collectors were to try to acquire a real piece of history that has remained in the same family for 200 years, Rahul Kadakia, international head of jewellery at Christie's, told AFP.
In the end, the bracelets achieved $8 million; really an astonishing price for a really, really great jewel.
When king Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette and their children tried to flee the French Revolution in March 1791, the royal jewels were smuggled out of the country into the trust of a confidant in Brussels.
They were then sent on to relatives in the queen's Austrian homeland and passed down through the generations.
The bracelets were auctioned as part of Christie's Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale.