Louis XV had decided in 1772 to make Madame du Barry, with whom he was infatuated, a special gift at the estimated cost of 2,000,000 livres.

He had requested that Parisian jewelers Boehmer and Bassenge create a diamond necklace which would surpass all others in grandeur.

It has taken the jewelers several years and a great deal of money to amass an appropriate set of diamonds.

In the meantime, Louis XV has died of smallpox, and du Barry had been banished from court by his successor.

The necklace consists of many large diamonds arranged in an elaborate design of festoons, pendants and tassels.

The jewelers hope it can be a product that the new Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, can buy and indeed in 1778 the new king, Louis XVI, had offered it to his wife as a present, but she had refused.

According to Madame Campan, a French educator and royal lady-in-waiting, the Queen had refused it with the statement that the money would be better spent equipping a man-of-war.

Some said that Marie Antoinette refused the necklace because she did not want to wear any jewel which had been designed for another woman, especially if that woman was a courtesan disliked by the Queen.

According to others, Louis XVI himself had changed his mind.

After having vainly trying to place the necklace outside of France, the jewelers again attempt to sell it to Marie Antoinette after the birth of the dauphin Louis-Joseph in 1781.

The Queen again refuses.