A diamond necklace with a possible link to Marie Antoinettethe last queen in France, has sold for $4.8 million at auction.

The glittering 300-carat necklace is loaded with gems that may have contributed to the 18th-century queen’s downfall. It has also been worn at two British coronations.

Experts from Sotheby’s, the auction house that sold the necklace, say some of its sparkling stones may have contributed to a royal scandal known as “the diamond necklace affair.”

The 1785 incident involved a noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte who was a “confidence trickster,” according to Château de Versailles. She pretended to be Marie Antoinette and then made off with a lavish 2,800-carat necklace made of nearly 650 diamonds.

Marie Antoinette was acquitted in court, but her reputation still suffered. The trial “did little to diminish her growing notoriety for extravagance, which helped fuel rotation and the overthrow of the French monarch,” writes ReutersCecile Mantovani.

Marie Antoinette was executed eight years later, following the execution of her husband, Louis XVI.

Diamonds from the scandalous piece were sold off, with a jeweler buying 350 of them for $12,700 (£10,000), which ArtnetVerity Babbs reports.

Some of the diamonds may have been incorporated into the recently auctioned necklace, according to Sotheby’s.

At the very least, the necklace “could only have been created for royalty or a high-ranking aristocrat at one of the glittering courts of the ancien régime — most likely the French or English court,” according to the auction house.

It contains 500 diamonds that probably came from India’s Golconda mines. The necklace, which is from the Georgian era, is made of three long parallel strands with a diamond tassel at each end. It can be worn open around the neck, or with the threads crossed like a scarf.

“It is a masterpiece of the Georgian era and a master class in design, execution and technical innovation for the period,” said Andres White Correal, a jewelry expert at Sotheby’s, in a catalog entry. “Today it is as relevant, alluring and appealing as when it was made over 200 years ago.”

Once upon a time, the necklace belonged to the Pagets, a British aristocratic family with close ties to the British royal family. Marjorie Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey, wore the necklace to the coronation of George VI in 1937. Her daughter-in-law also wore the necklace to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

Sometime in the 1960s, the family sold or gave away the necklace. In 1976 it was included in an exhibition at American Museum of Natural History in New York.

At “Royal and noble jewels” auction in Geneva on November 13, the necklace sparked a prolonged bidding war. An unnamed buyer ultimately won.

“The customer who bought it is ecstatic,” says White Correal, per France24is Oliver Farry. “She was ready to fight, and she did. … (The necklace) will be worn and loved a lot.”

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