A necklace thought to be linked to a scandal that prompted the downfall of the doomed French queen Marie Antoinette has been sold at auction for $4.81m (£3.8m). The Georgian piece contains about 500 diamonds and was bought for almost double the amount ...

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.

Tobias Kormind, managing director of Europe’s largest online diamond jeweller 77 Diamonds, shared his thoughts on the jewellery's historic allure: "A scandalous link to Marie Antoinette and the dramatic end of the French monarchy, this historic necklace, which is unusually intact for a Georgian jewel, has it all."

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

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

Experts say the quality and age of the diamonds match those from the infamous necklace said to have paved the way for Antoinette's eventual demise.

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

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.

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

"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.