On November 14, 2018, a large drop-shaped natural pearl pendant sold for more than $36 million ($55 million) at a rare auction of jewelry that once belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of France.
She and her husband Louis XVI. from France they lived a luxurious life in stark contrast to many of their subjects until the French Revolution in the 18th century. Marie Antoinette, like her husband, was guillotined in 1793 by the new revolutionary government.
But before her execution, she secretly smuggled some of her most prized possessions, including a pear pendant, abroad to her relatives.