Image copyright AFP Image caption The star of the auction was Marie Antoinette's Pearl, a natural pearl and diamond pendant 
 
 A pearl and diamond pendant that belonged to ill-fated French Queen Marie Antoinette has been sold for $36m (£28m) in what Sotheby's auction house says is a world record for a pearl. Image copyright EPA Image caption One of the other items up for sale is a diamond ring bearing the initials MA for Marie Antoinette and containing a lock of her hair 
 
 There were also pieces from King Charles X, the Archdukes of Austria and the Dukes of Parma, including a diamond tiara. Sotheby's, the luxury dealer managing the auction, called the collection "one of the most important royal jewelry collections ever to come to auction" in a press release. She smuggled out her jewellery to her family in Austria before her failed attempt to flee France with Louis XVI and their children. Credit: Laura Ly / CNN 
 
 The collection was kept in the family for over 200 years. Image copyright AFP Image caption The French queen's jewels are part of a larger collection auctioned by Italy's Bourbon-Parma family 
 
 Deputy Chair Daniela Mascetti said: "This extraordinary group of jewels offers a captivating insight into the lives of its owners going back hundreds of years."
– Let them eat their hearts out. Jewels that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, the extravagant and doomed last queen of France, are set to hit the auction block as part of what Sotheby's calls "one of the most important royal jewellery collections ever to appear on the market." Sold by Italy's royal House of Bourbon-Parma, the items up for grabs Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland—smuggled to Antoinette's family in Austria before she and Louis XVI met the guillotine in 1793—haven't been seen in public for 200 years, reports the BBC. They include a pearl and diamond pendant, valued at up to $2 million, and a monogram ring with a lock of Antoinette's hair, expected to fetch up to $50,000, per CNN. (Antoinette's silk shoes were previously sold.)