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.

Some of the diamonds in the necklace are believed to stem from the jewel at the center of the “Diamond Necklace Affair”—a scandal in the 1780s that further tarnished the reputation of

A diamond-studded necklace thought to be involved in a scandal that led to the eventual downfall of the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, is being sold in Geneva next week. The Georgian-era piece containing 300 carats of diamonds being

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."

Experts say some of the stones in the piece are a match with the original diamonds central to a royal scandal.

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.

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.