Legendary necklaces

The oldest  necklace discovered until now is over 100,000 years old and was made of snail shells. Necklaces were typically worn by kings, shamans, officials and the world’s wealthy as a symbol of authority, richness and prestige.  Today they are  worn with jeans and evening dresses, and they cost from a dozen euros up to millions of dollars. Necklaces have been an object of interest and desire for thousands of years.

The world’s most expensive necklace, “A Heritage in Bloom” designed by Wallace Chan, is valued at $200,000,000. This necklace is decorated with gemstones with a total weight of 383.40 carats. Twentytwo jewellers  worked on the necklace over a total of 47,000 hours. Due to its modular structure, the necklace can be worn in 27 different ways.

The most expensive necklace from S&A is ZN4140-SM from Choose Glamour collection, hand-forged with 96 diamonds and 31 natural stones for a total weight of 78 carats.

The world’s most famous epic, Homer’s Odyssey, describes a necklace “a magnificent chain of gold and amber beads that gleamed like sunlight” which Eurymachus handed to Penelope when seeking her affection. Amber was so valuable and desirable in ancient times that a trade route of more than 1,000 kilometers was built in order to transport the “Gold of the North” from the Baltic coast to Rome.

S&A’s most famous necklace is Qule, a gift created for Duchess Kate given during the official visit of the royal couple to Poland. See Royal Collection.

The biggest scandal related to the necklace is an 18th century fraud aimed at France’s Queen Marie Antoinette.  The necklace was originally ordered by Louis XV for his mistress, the courtesan Madame du Barry. The king died in the meantime, so the necklace was not picked up from the jewellers.  A non-affluent countess, Joan de Saint-Remy, wanted to take advantage of the situation by faking Marie Antoinette’s signature on the purchase contract for the necklace, which would suggest that Antoinette purchased the necklace secretly from her husband, Louis XVI.  The case came to light. The dishonest countess was flogged and imprisoned. After a year, the countess escaped from prison and the necklace was never found.  Although Marie Antoinette was innocent, the case became the subject of numerous satyrs and anecdotes.

We haven’t caused any scandal yet, but the necklaces from the Be Unique collection might stir things up a bit. The most beautiful and truly unique amber stones have been hand-polished to preserve their natural beauty while giving them a modern, geometric form. Master jewellers have individually set each piece in minimalist, designer settings that put amber at the very center of attention. In this collection, every necklace tells its own story.