Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 723 Jewelry
After adjusting the camera lens, Liang En and Joan of Arc began to open the boxes inside one by one, and when the box was opened, the pile of things inside almost dazzled Liang En and their eyes.

The first thing to be taken out of the long box was a three-ply pearl necklace with a diamond buckle, consisting of 119 natural pearls, considering that there was no artificial pearl cultivation technology at that time.

Therefore, it is very rare for these more than 100 pearls of about the same size to be assembled into a string. According to Liang En's point of view, it is absolutely no problem for this string of antique pearl necklaces to sell for 40 million US dollars.

And this string of pearl necklaces was just an appetizer. As the boxes were opened, more jewelry appeared in front of Liang En, including necklaces, rings, crowns and brooches, which were basically diamond jewelry.

The most conspicuous piece of jewelry is a diamond pendant inlaid with a large pearl. The size of the pearl is 26mm X 18mm. Liang En's initial estimate is 200 million US dollars.

Of course, the raw materials of these jewelry are not only very precious, but many of the ingenious designs are also amazing, such as a diamond badge.

This badge is composed of three parts, the top layer is a laurel wreath, the middle layer is a flame, and the bottom layer is a golden sheep. This badge can be used as a whole, or it can be split into three independent pieces. Brooch.

The same is true for the other two diamond crowns, all of which are uniform lily images. The reason for choosing the lily pattern is because in Christian belief, lily is the most holy flower.

The lily above can be disassembled, and the lily alone is a delicate brooch.There are pear-shaped diamonds and rose-shaped diamonds in the crown, reflecting the diamond cutting skills of craftsmen at that time.

"To be honest, those who can do this are master jewelry makers." As a colleague, Liang Enzhi can judge the level of these jewelry.

For example, this kind of combined jewelry that can be disassembled has relatively high requirements for the maker. Many jewelry craftsmen with insufficient skills often look good when the jewelry is used separately, but the combination is not harmonious enough.

Now, the jewelry that Liang En and the others found basically does not have any problems in this regard. From a certain point of view, only top craftsmen can do it in the handicraft era.

To give the simplest example, it is very difficult to combine and fix those jewelry parts, which cannot be done by any craftsman, especially in the state of pure handwork.

The things made by craftsmen who are not skilled enough are either too loosely connected so that they are easy to fall off automatically, or the connections are too tight and cannot be pulled out, even causing damage to the jewelry due to too much force when the user disassembles it.

In addition to seeing the level of craftsmanship of the author of this jewelry, Liang En can also confirm that this batch of jewelry was made in the middle and late 18th century, with a strong Rococo style.

"In other words, this is jewelry made during the Louis 15 or Louis 16 period, or the Napoleon period." Joan of Arc has carefully studied French history after coming here, so she quickly remembered that this corresponds to which era.

Although in terms of jewelry making, the jewelry after the Napoleonic era is called the jewelry of the imperial period. The overall style is based on colored gemstones, surrounded by small diamonds as decorations, which is completely different from the current jewelry.

But considering that the style of jewelry cannot be changed very quickly.The style change of these jewelry will not change suddenly, so the range of speculation about the age of this jewelry itself is naturally wider.

"I think I know who the original owner of some jewelry is." Liang En picked up a diamond ring and said when he cleaned up a silver jewelry box containing three pieces of jewelry.

This is a diamond ring inlaid with small rose-shaped diamonds. It is not conspicuous among the pile of jewels found this time, but the key lies in the curlicue signature with the capital letter MA on the ring surface.

The signature is actually the initials, and the full name behind it is Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, or a more familiar name, Marie Antoinette.

A few years ago, Liang En once found a rabbit-shaped lock, and he saw a signature on that lock, but today he once again found something related to the famous queen.

For people today.This queen is the most well-known among the queens of all dynasties in France, because she is in a great historical era, and many controversial things have happened to her at the same time.

If you study carefully, you will find that the queen's life was also full of ups and downs. In 1766, for political needs, the French royal family formally proposed to the 11-year-old Grand Duchess Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette).

The Austrian court readily agreed.But for various reasons, the wedding was delayed for several years.

It was not until 1770, when Marie Antoinette was 14 years old, that she finally set foot on French soil and became the Crown Princess of the French Crown Prince Louis Auguste de Bourbon (later Louis XVI).

In 1774, Louis XV died and Louis XVI ascended the throne.Marie Antoinette became Queen of France, mother of France.But it is a pity that she herself does not have the sense of responsibility and mission that a queen should have.

Since entering the French court, Marie Antoinette has made no achievements in politics.Every day, she is only keen on balls, fashion, having fun, dressing up and celebrating banquets, decorating the garden, and extravagantly, so she is known as "Madame Deficit".

However, after the French Revolution began, she unexpectedly reflected the proud beauty and delicate dignity of a queen, and she was more assertive and stubborn than Louis XVI.

On July 1789, 7, when the crowd attacked the Bastille, Marie Antoinette persuaded Louis XVI to take refuge in Metz with troops.She supported the king's rejection of the National Assembly's request to abolish the feudal system and limit the royal power, and became a target of public criticism.

In October 1789, he moved back to Paris from the Palace of Versailles with Louis XVI, and was under the supervision of the revolutionary masses.She acted secretly and asked for help from a group of exiled nobles.

But instead of helping, they made things worse, and everyone wanted to exchange the king's head for a ransom.This group of nobles included the king's younger brother, the Count of Provence (later Louis XVIII), and his younger brother, the Count of Artois (later Charles X).

The king and his wife were helpless, and forced by the situation, they had to plan their own escapes again and again.Queen Mary fled secretly with the king in June 1791, and was discovered when she arrived in the border city of Warren, and she attempted to escape.

In 1792, France declared war on Austria. She continued to collude with Austria and provided the combat plan to the foreign intervention army in an attempt to suppress the revolution with external forces.

After the treason was revealed, the French people were angered, leading to an uprising in Paris on August 1792, 8, which completely overthrew the monarchy.She was subsequently imprisoned at Dumple Castle with the king.

In October of the following year, he was handed over to the revolutionary court for trial, sentenced to death, and sent to the guillotine.At the age of 10.After death, the body was thrown in a mass grave for burial.

It was not until 22 years later that the Earl of Provence was restored and became Louis XVIII that her bones were dug up again and buried properly.

But now, what Liang En and the others found should be part of several batches of belongings sent by Queen Mary before she was executed.

(End of this chapter)