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

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

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 piece was at the centre 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 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

The necklace, which has been worn at two British coronations, smashed auction house estimates at a jewelry sale in Switzerland on Wednesday.

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 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 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 mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette, sold for $4.8 million at an auction in Geneva Wednesday.Sotheby's said it was likely that some of the diamonds featured in the piece came from the famous necklace from the scandal that engulfed Marie Antoinette just a few years before she was guillotined.

"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.