Born in 1755, a touch of history
Marie Antoinette (Austria 1755 - Paris 1793), became the wife of Louis XVI and thus Queen of France. She supported the American Revolution in 1776 and the American Revolutionary War, and helped inspire a conservative reaction in France after 1791. This conservative reaction saw its greatest manifestation in the War in the Vendée, which led, several years after the queen's death, to the end of the Revolution and the return of conservative and religious ideas in France and Europe. She was beheaded on the guillotine on 16 October 1793.
The note we show is supposed to be her last note. These heartbreaking words - the last that Marie Antoinette had written in her cell, with traces of her tears making it even more moving - were found on the first page of her prayer book:
4h in the morning...
My God have mercy on me!
My eyes have no more tears to cry for you my poor children;
farewell
farewell!
Marie Antoinette
Also "born" in 1755 is the depicted ring. It was made in Amsterdam, and on its journey through time with a layover at Adin, it was exhibited together with Dutch Royal Jewellery in 1962. Just imagine the stories we would hear if our antique jewellery could speak.