Historic Diamonds
A Diamond Fit for a Queen:
The Marie-Thérèse Pink and the Enduring Allure of Marie Antoinette
By Milena Lazazzera. Updated June 17, 2025
The 10.38-carat Marie-Thérèse Pink diamond, linked to Queen Marie Antoinette and newly mounted by JAR, just doubled its pre-auction estimate at Christie’s New York on June 17 for nearly $14 million.
Marie Antoinette’s Marie-Thérèse Pink (Courtesy of Christie’s)
It may not have been the naïve (and often misquoted) “let them eat cake,” but rather the scandal of the Affair of the Necklace that, as Napoleon Bonaparte suggested in his writings, sealed Marie Antoinette’s fate. Yet whatever the guillotined queen did, said, or wore always made an impact. It is true even more than two centuries after her death, as every time an object believed to have been in her possession or proximity appears at auction, the world holds its breath.
Such is once again the case with the Marie-Thérèse Pink, a 10.38-carat fancy purple-pink diamond that just smashed its high estimate at Christie’s to sell for $13.98 million. It is believed to have passed through the hands of Marie Antoinette, her daughter Marie-Thérèse, and generations of European royalty. It made a dazzling appearance at Christie’s New York on June 17 and sparked a bidding frenzy.
Meet the Experts
- Rahul Kadakia is the International Head of Jewelry at Christie’s, where he has overseen some of the most significant jewelry auctions in the world. With over two decades of experience, Kadakia is regarded as one of the industry’s foremost authorities on rare gemstones, historic jewels, and provenance-driven pieces.
- Jessica Wyndham is the head of high jewelry sales at Sotheby’s Geneva. where she leads landmark auctions of exceptional estate and signed jewelry. A seasoned gemologist, Wyndham is known for her expertise in valuing rare diamonds and historically important pieces.
The Marie-Thérèse Pink: A History of Marie Antoinette’s Diamond
“Marie Antoinette possessed an extraordinary eye for beauty and a deep appreciation for exceptional gemstones—valuing them not only for their rarity and worth, but for their elegance and uniqueness,” says Rahul Kadakia, international head of jewelry at Christie’s. Although the connection to Marie Antoinette is based on historical repute, Christie’s has chosen to name the diamond after her daughter, Marie-Thérèse, from whom a documented and uninterrupted chain of custody originates. As Kadakia explains, on the eve of her attempted escape from Paris—the infamous Flight to Varennes—Marie Antoinette entrusted her most treasured jewels to her trusted coiffeur in the hope she might one day reclaim them.
However, following the fall of the monarchy and the Queen’s execution, the jewels were passed to her only surviving child, Marie Thérèse de France, later the Duchess of Angoulême. With no direct heirs, she in turn entrusted them to her niece, the Duchess of Chambord. Decades later, a note found in a will revealed the diamond’s next known owner: Queen Marie Theresa of Bavaria, who described it as “a pink solitaire diamond from Aunt Chambord.”
“This extraordinary and continuous royal lineage—intimately documented and deeply personal—makes the diamond not only a natural wonder, but a living testament to European history,” says Kadakia.
A Rare Pink Diamond Wonder with a Royal Past
When Kadakia refers to this rare pink diamond as a “natural wonder,” he’s not only highlighting its extreme rarity—it’s estimated that for every 1 million carats of diamonds found, only 1 carat is naturally pink—but also its origin. The diamond is believed to come from the now-mythical Golconda mines in India, whose diamonds, Kadakia notes, are “celebrated for their legendary clarity and brilliance.”
The Marie-Thérèse Pink was last seen mounted en tremblant as a hair ornament, set in silver and gold, and housed in a fitted purple velvet case stamped with the Austrian Imperial warrant of A.E. Köchert—the esteemed Viennese court jeweler favored by Empress Sisi.
Now, adding a new layer of mystique and allure, the diamond returns to the public eye in a striking setting imagined by the mercurial American jeweler Joel Arthur Rosenthal, more widely known under his acronym JAR. For this historic stone, JAR envisioned a regal ring design crowned with a diamond-studded fleur-de-lis—the iconic emblem of the French monarchy, seen throughout royal regalia and heraldry, as a tribute to the diamond’s noble pedigree.
The Jewels of Marie Antoinette at Auction
Despite the somewhat bleak economic landscape, expectations for the Marie-Thérèse Pink remain high. The diamond has not been seen publicly since 1996, when it last appeared at auction in Geneva—and jewels linked to Marie Antoinette have a history of fetching prices that defy gravity. Kadakia recalls that in 2021, Christie’s presented a pair of Marie Antoinette’s three-stranded diamond bracelets, which achieved $8.2 million, three times its estimate — “an extraordinary result that underscored the continued fascination with her legacy,” he says.
The Power of Provenance: Why Marie Antoinette Still Captivates Collectors
Provenance—especially when tied to a figure as iconic as Marie Antoinette, whose life and lavishness were most recently popularized in Sofia Coppola’s eponymous film—plays a significant role in determining the value of a jewel. “We always begin by assessing a jewel’s intrinsic qualities—its stones, craftsmanship, and rarity—and then consider its historical significance,” explains Jessica Wyndham, head of high jewelry sales at Sotheby’s Geneva. “You can quantify provenance to an extent, particularly when it involves royal lineage, as it often commands a premium at auction. However, the true extent of that premium is rarely known until the hammer falls.”
In 2018, Sotheby’s staged a landmark sale featuring several jewels linked to the ill-fated queen. Among them was a diamond pendant holding a pearl of exceptional size and quality. To everyone’s astonishment, the rare jewel shattered records, selling for over $44 million—more than thirty-six times its pre-sale estimate. “Nobody could have ever anticipated that result,” Wyndham recalls. “It proves that while we can estimate value to a point, the auction room always has the final word.”
Will Marie Antoinette’s Influence Shape the Christie’s Sale?
At Christie’s June sale in New York, the Marie-Thérèse Pink appeared alongside other notable lots. Among them: an unmounted diamond of 66.74 carats, D color, VVS1 clarity (estimate: $3.2 million–$4.2 million), and a fine colored diamond ring featuring a 17.98-carat light blue pear-shaped diamond set in platinum (estimate: $1 million–$1.5 million).
On auction day, the spirit of Marie Antoinette once again outweighed even the heaviest of carat weights by selling for more than double its pre-auction estimate at nearly $14 million.
