Marie Antoinette Locket
The above beautiful and rather ornate Heart shaped pendant locket is traditionally ascribed as belonging to Marie Antoinette, set under glass or rock-crystal with an inscribed card and mounted in a gold filigree setting also contains a lock of her hair.
A small gold padlock is suspended from the base with a key on a chain attached to the suspension loop. The filigree in the form of tight spiral discs forming ‘spectacles’ shapes, placed within the flat wire rim.
If you want to see it up close and personal, go to the British Museum.
By Jean-Baptiste Gautier Dagoty (1740-1786) – Unknown, Public Domain,
Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755 in Vienna, Austria. She was the 15th of the 16 children of Emperor Francis I. She was only 15 years old when she was married off to Louis XVI of France, who was then 16.
She was only a teenager when she became a queen. She became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy and is traditionally credited with the famous quote: “Let them eat cake,”, although there is no evidence she actually said it, upon learning that the peasants had no bread.
This showed that the great princess was out of touch and oblivious to the condition of the people.
The beautiful Marie Antoniette was beheaded by guillotine.