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Diamond Necklace Possibly Linked to Marie Antoinette's Demise Up for Auction

An historic and highly important necklace set with nearly 500 diamonds weighing a total of approximately 300 carats and formally in the collection of the Marquess of Anglesey is pictured during an auction preview at Sotheby's and is estimated to fetch 1,600,000 to 2,000,000 CHF in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 7, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
An historic and highly important necklace set with nearly 500 diamonds weighing a total of approximately 300 carats and formally in the collection of the Marquess of Anglesey is pictured during an auction preview at Sotheby's and is estimated to fetch 1,600,000 to 2,000,000 CHF in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 7, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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Diamond Necklace Possibly Linked to Marie Antoinette's Demise Up for Auction

An historic and highly important necklace set with nearly 500 diamonds weighing a total of approximately 300 carats and formally in the collection of the Marquess of Anglesey is pictured during an auction preview at Sotheby's and is estimated to fetch 1,600,000 to 2,000,000 CHF in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 7, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
An historic and highly important necklace set with nearly 500 diamonds weighing a total of approximately 300 carats and formally in the collection of the Marquess of Anglesey is pictured during an auction preview at Sotheby's and is estimated to fetch 1,600,000 to 2,000,000 CHF in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 7, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

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 sold by a Asian private collector in Geneva on Nov. 13 is valued at around 2 million Swiss francs ($2.29 million), Sotheby's said, although it may fetch much more.
The piece was at the center of a scandal in the 1780s known as the 'Diamond Necklace Affair' in which a hard-up noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte pretended to be the French queen and acquired the necklace in her name without payment
A subsequent trial found the queen blameless, yet did little to alleviate her growing notoriety for extravagance which helped fuel the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette's beheading.
"It's likely or possible that some of these diamonds may have come from the famous diamond necklace that led to the downfall of Marie Antoinette," Jessica Wyndham, head of magnificent jewels sales for Sotheby's, told Reuters on Thursday.
"What we've seen is that jewelry with a noble provenance can generate a huge amount of excitement," she added, citing a pearl pendant belonging to the French queen which the auction house sold in 2018 for many times its initial estimate.
The diamonds of the original piece, crafted in 1776, were later sold piecemeal on the black market so are almost impossible to trace. However, some experts say the quality and age of the diamonds point to a match.
The necklace, which resembles a neck scarf, can be worn open or knotted at the front. One of its previous owners was Britain's Marquess of Anglesey and a family member wore it on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, according to Sotheby's.
"I think it's one of the most exciting pieces that we've had for a long time, not only with the provenance, but the design," said Wyndham.

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White Truffles, Italy's Gold, Menaced by Climate Change

A truffle farmer sells his production during the truffle market in Sorges, southwestern France. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau.
A truffle farmer sells his production during the truffle market in Sorges, southwestern France. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau.
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White Truffles, Italy's Gold, Menaced by Climate Change

A truffle farmer sells his production during the truffle market in Sorges, southwestern France. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau.
A truffle farmer sells his production during the truffle market in Sorges, southwestern France. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau.

Deep in a thick forest in Italy's northwestern Piedmont region, the hunt is on for the white Alba truffle, with excited dogs zigzagging and digging into the wet earth.
But the culinary treasure is becoming increasingly rare, undermined by climate change.
"Go find it! Where is it?" Carlo Marenda, a part-time truffle hunter, calls out to Gigi and Buk, seven month- and 13-year-old crosses between the Spinone Italiano and Lagotto Romagnolo breeds, prized for their keen sense of smell, AFP reported.
Autumn leaves crunch under the weight of boots sinking into muddy soil. Below a picturesque hillside vineyard not far from Alba, trails wind along the Rio della Fava, crossing damp ground ideal for growing truffles.
Sought after by gourmets and starred chefs around the globe, the white truffle of Alba, the most prestigious in the world, is an underground fungus growing in symbiosis with certain hardwood trees by attaching itself to their roots.
Its intense and refined scent, a mixture of hay, garlic and honey, allows hunting dogs to detect it, even if the truffle is sometimes buried up to a meter deep.
Introduced to truffle hunting at the age of five by a family friend, Carlo Marenda, 42, founded the "Save the Truffle" association in 2015, alongside Edmondo Bonelli, a researcher in natural sciences.
It was an octogenarian "trifulau" loner, Giuseppe Giamesio, known as "Notu" and the last descendant of a family with a century-old truffle tradition, who revealed his secrets to him and bequeathed his dogs just before his death in 2014.
The master's message was a testament: "If we want to prevent the disappearance of the truffle, we must protect the forests, stop polluting the waterways and plant new 'truffle' trees".
Ten years later, thanks to donations and the support of some winegrowers, the association has planted more than 700 such trees in the hilly Langhe area, including poplars, oaks and lindens.
Notu's legacy
"Notu passed on to me his passion for truffle hunting and tree preservation," said Marenda, emerging from his metallic grey Fiat Panda 4X4, the preferred car of truffle hunters.
In the last three decades, the areas dedicated to white truffles in Italy have dropped by 30 percent, gradually giving way to more profitable vineyards, but also hazelnut groves.
The Langhe hills provide a large quantity of hazelnuts to the chocolate giant Ferrero, which was founded in 1946 in Alba, a small prosperous town of 30,000 inhabitants.
But the main threat to the white truffle, whose harvest was classified as an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2021, is climate change.
Global warming, drought, deforestation and sudden temperature changes are all factors weakening the natural habitat of this fungus.
To survive, the truffle needs cold and humidity. At the beginning of November, however, the temperature was at 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit).
"With the prolongation of summer weather, production is definitely falling", he lamented.
Soaring prices
The harvest, running from October to the end of January, is getting shorter. And with the delayed cold and snow to arrive, "the aroma of the truffles is not yet 100 percent and they don't keep as long", Marenda said.
Abundant rain, as seen in recent weeks, can also be harmful, he said.
"If there is too little water, the truffle does not grow. If there is too much, it rots."
Alerted by Buk, Marenda crouched down to the ground to delicately scratch the earth with a narrow spade, extracting a truffle, albeit rather modest in size.
On whether the white truffle is on the brink of extinction, experts say it isn't too late.

"Not yet. But if we don't act, it could become so," said Mario Aprile, president of the Piedmont truffle hunters' association.
"The white truffle cannot be cultivated, unlike the black one. Without trees, there are no truffles. We plant them to rebuild biodiversity," Aprile said.
Faced with limited supply and booming demand, the white truffle is trading at a high price, reaching 4,500 euros per kilo this year at the International Alba White Truffle Fair which ends December 8.
Two "twin" white truffles, bound to the same root and dug up by Aprile, were the stars of the annual world charity auction for white truffles in Alba Sunday.
Weighing a total of 905 grams (2 lbs), the fungi were sold for 140,000 euros ($150,000) to a Hong Kong finance tycoon.