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.

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

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 at auction in Geneva on Wednesday for 4.26 million Swiss francs ($4.

A diamond necklace, potentially linked to Marie Antoinette, sold for $4.8 million at a Sotheby's auction on Wednesday in Switzerland. The necklace, dating back to the 18th century, features approximately 300 carats of diamonds.