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44-484: The earliest attested version of the earrings was purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post from Pierre C. Cartier in 1928. At this point, they comprised a pair of pear-shaped diamond drops—20.34 and 14.25  carats in weight respectively—sourced from either India or Brazil . The diamonds were installed in silver settings with gold links . The links were decorated with smaller mine cut diamonds embedded in scrollwork . Post later commissioned Cartier to replace

88-628: A US$ 20 million fortune. Post lived in Battle Creek, Michigan from ages 3-14. She then moved to Washington, D.C. to attend the Mount Vernon Seminary and College (now the George Washington University 's Mount Vernon Campus). She maintained a close lifelong relationship with her alma mater and served as its first alumna trustee. Today, a collection of her correspondence with Mount Vernon administrators

132-864: A "Golden Daughter of Minerva". She donated $ 100,000 to the National Cultural Center in Washington that would later become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts . In 1955, she contributed $ 100,000 to the National Symphony for free concerts that led to the beginning of the Music for Young America Concerts, which she financed annually. The Merriweather Post Pavilion , an outdoor concert venue in Columbia, Maryland ,

176-569: A Washington, D.C., lawyer. They had no children and were divorced in 1955. From November 1936 to June 1938, in a crucial period leading up to World War II , Davies served as the American ambassador to the Soviet Union , ruled at that time by Joseph Stalin . Post accompanied Davies to Moscow, and they acquired many valuable Russian works of art from Soviet authorities at very reasonable prices. Herbert A. May: Post's final marriage, in 1958,

220-493: A biographer of Marjorie Merriweather Post, cites Germain Bapst 's Histoire des Joyaux de la Couronne de France , who in turn quotes Madame Campan , Marie Antoinette's lady's maid : "Mr. Boehmer, court jeweler, had assembled six large diamonds on order of Louis XV for [Madame] Du Barry but were not given before the king's death. So, Mr. Boehmer set two as earrings and offered them to the new queen. Marie Antoinette could not afford

264-477: A necklace of most valuable pearls..." Several images of Eugenie wearing these earrings exist, including a set of engravings produced for an 1853 wedding issue of The Illustrated London News . The memoirs note that Eugenie took her personal jewelry to England after the Franco-Prussian War , selling most of it between 1870 and 1872. Post posits that these may be the earrings purchased and worn by

308-569: A pair of diamond earrings set with pear shapes, weighing 14 ct (2.8 g) and 20 ct (4 g), once belonging to Marie Antoinette ; the Blue Heart Diamond, a 30.82-ct (6.164 g) heart-shaped blue diamond ring; and an emerald-and-diamond necklace and ring, once belonging to Habsburg aristocrat and one time emperor of Mexico, Maximilian . According to the Hermitage Museum Foundation, Post was a Russophile . During

352-411: A treatise De l'Education des Femmes (pub. 1824); and one or two small didactic works, written in a clear and natural style. The most noteworthy thing in her educational system, and that which especially recommended it to Napoleon, was the place given to domestic economy in the education of girls . At Écouen the pupils underwent a complete training in all branches of housework . The Queen’s toilet

396-522: Is at least an attested history of the claim being made through multiple generations. A portrait of Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna Yusupova , Zinaida's mother, was made in 1875 by French artist Jean-Baptiste Marie Fouque , with the subject wearing the earrings and the claim of their provenance noted by the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg . The last will of Zenaida Ivanovna Naryshkina ,

440-475: Is maintained by GWU's Special Collections Research Center. Post's complete collection of personal papers, as well as those of her father, are held by the University of Michigan 's Bentley Historical Library . Post became the owner of Postum Cereal Company in 1914, after the death of her father, and was a director of the company until 1958. She, along with her second husband, E.F. Hutton , began expanding

484-794: Is named for her. Some of Post's jewelry, bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is displayed in the Harry Winston exhibit. Pieces in the collection include the Napoleon Diamond Necklace and the Marie Louise Diadem , a 275- ct (55 g) diamond-and-turquoise necklace and tiara set that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Empress Marie Louise ; the Marie Antoinette Diamond Earrings ,

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528-626: Is now on display at Hillwood , the museum which was her estate in Washington, D.C. She is also known for her mansion, Mar-a-Lago , in Palm Beach, Florida . Marjorie Merriweather Post was born in Springfield, Illinois , the daughter and only child of C. W. Post and Ella Letitia Merriweather. At age 27, following her father's death in 1914, she became the owner of the rapidly growing Postum Cereal Company , founded in 1895. She inherited

572-487: The French Revolution , she was afterwards headmistress of the first Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur , appointed by Napoleon in 1807 to promote the education of girls. She was the daughter of Edme-Jacques Genet and Marie-Anne-Louise Cardon. Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador Citizen Genet was her younger brother), and, although without fortune, placed her in

616-619: The History Channel docudrama series The Food That Built America , which debuted in 2019. A fictionalized version of Merriweather Post was played by Amy Schumer in the 2024 Netflix film Unfrosted written by Jerry Seinfeld . In 2008, The New York Times published an article, " Mystery on Fifth Avenue ", about a luxury Fifth Avenue apartment that the occupants, Steven Klinsky and Maureen Sherry, had "redesigned to include hidden compartments, messages, puzzles, poems, codes and games for their four preteen kids." The apartment

660-535: The Russian Revolution ), and that: "According to family tradition, they were one of the last presents of Louis XVI to his queen; she wore them constantly; they were found in her pocket after the arrest of the French royal family at Varennes ." The missing Yusupova family records, which were never recovered post-Revolution, preclude any absolute determination of the earrings' provenance. However, there

704-530: The 1930s, the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin began selling art treasures and other valuables seized from the Romanov family and former Russian aristocrats after the Russian Revolution to earn hard currency for its industrialization and military armament programs. Critics have claimed that these items were expropriated; however, the transactions by Post and her third husband, Joseph E. Davies , were from

748-658: The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History for several decades. They were purchased from Eleanor Post Hutton in 1964, alongside their original settings. Hutton had inherited them from her mother, Marjorie Merriweather Post. Post had purchased the earrings from Pierre C. Cartier in 1928. Cartier had provided Post with documentation from Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov of Russia, from whom he had purchased

792-495: The National Symphony. Merriweather Hall (formerly 'The Post House') and Post Hall, at the George Washington University 's Mount Vernon Campus , is named in her honor. Henriette Campan Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan ( née Genet ; 2 October 1752, Paris  – 16 March 1822, Mantes ) was a French educator, writer and Lady's maid . In the service of Marie Antoinette before and during

836-775: The Princess. More scratching it was Madame la Comtesse de Provence ; the Duchesse d’Orléans handed her the linen. All this while the Queen kept her arms crossed upon her bosom, and appeared to feel cold; Madame observed her uncomfortable situation, and, merely laying down her handkerchief without taking off her gloves, she put on the linen, and in doing so knocked the Queen’s cap off. The Queen laughed to conceal her impatience, but not until she had muttered several times, "How disagreeable! how tiresome!" All this etiquette, however inconvenient,

880-501: The Queen, who was entirely undressed, was just going to put on her shift; I held it ready unfolded for her; the dame d’honneur came in, slipped off her gloves, and took it. A scratching was heard at the door; it was opened, and in came the Duchesse d’Orléans : her gloves were taken off, and she came forward to take the garment; but as it would have been wrong in the dame d’honneur to hand it to her she gave it to me, and I handed it to

924-816: The Russian Revolution, including victims of Stalin's Terror at discount prices from Soviet authorities. Many of the items, which remain under the control of the Post estate or its agents, can be viewed at Hillwood , her former estate. Hillwood has operated as a private museum since Post's death and displays her French and Russian art collection, featuring the work of Fabergé , Sèvres porcelain , French furniture, tapestries, and paintings. Edward Bennett Close : In 1905, Post married investment banker Edward Bennett Close of Greenwich, Connecticut . They divorced in 1919. Together, they had two daughters: Via his second marriage, Edward Bennett Close would later become

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968-594: The Yusupovas. Marjorie Merriweather Post Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite , and philanthropist . She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods Corporation . For much of Marjorie Post's life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States. Post used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly Imperial -era Russian art , much of which

1012-554: The business and acquiring other American food companies such as Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Jell-O , Baker's Chocolate , Maxwell House , and many more. In 1929, Postum Cereal Company was renamed General Foods Corporation . While taking a voyage on her yacht, the Hussar , she came across the innovations of Clarence Birdseye in Gloucester, Massachusetts . Birdseye had developed a new way to preserve food by freezing it. Post foresaw

1056-680: The cost of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Washington. Years later in 1971, she was among the first three recipients of the Silver Fawn Award , presented by the Boy Scouts of America . The 425-acre (172 ha) Lake Merriweather at Goshen Scout Reservation in Goshen, Virginia, was named in her honor. In 1966, at Long Island University's C.W. Post College, located on her former Long Island estate , she became honorary housemother of Zeta Beta Tau's Gamma Delta chapter, often hosting

1100-486: The earrings earlier that year. This included an affidavit signed by Yusupov's mother, Zinaida Yusupova , attesting that the earrings had belonged to the family for over a century, having been purchased by her great-grandmother Princess Tatiana Yusupova , that their settings had never been replaced, that these facts could be proven from family documents and portraits (which did not survive the Yusupova family's flight from

1144-536: The earrings, quoting from the 1889 memoirs of Amélie Carette , a close courtier of Empress Eugenie : "The personal jewels of the Empress consisted of a casket of the greatest value. Among others, there were some magnificent earrings, shaped like large pears, in diamonds, which originally belonged to the Queen Marie Antoinette, the Empress obtaining possession of them on her marriage, together with

1188-508: The eponymous grandmother of Zenaida Yusupova, requested that her jewelry , including the Polar Star Diamond and her "earrings, so-called pendants of the Queen Marie Antoinette," go to Zinaida. The claimed origin of the earrings—that they once belonged to Marie Antoinette—has been investigated by scholars of the Smithsonian Institution several times in the decades after their acquisition, with inconclusive results. Liana Paredes,

1232-482: The four hundred thousand  livres and turned them down. The king increased her allowance and she obtained them." Paredes points out, however, that the term used by Bapst to describe the earrings in this passage describes a style of earring that matches poorly with the Marie Antoinette Earrings. The Smithsonian's chairman , Jeffrey Edward Post, put forward an alternative theory for

1276-468: The fraternity brothers for brunches. Post served as the honorary house mother of the college's first local fraternity, Sigma Beta Epsilon, which, in 1969, became the New York Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon . Since Post had borne only girls, she referred to the fraternity of sons-in-law as her "boys", while they called her "Mother Marjorie". Post was honored by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity as

1320-664: The future advantages of frozen food, and bought Birdseye's company, which eventually became a success. Post funded a U.S. Army hospital in France during World War I , and, decades later, the French government awarded her the Legion of Honour , in the degree of Commander. Starting in 1929 and throughout the Great Depression, she financed and personally supervised a Salvation Army feeding station in New York. She also donated

1364-758: The kind attentions of friends, but saddened by the loss of her only son, and by the calumnies circulated on account of her connection with the Bonapartes . Henriette Campan died in 1822, leaving valuable Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette (published 1823 (posthumously), Paris, 3 vols.), subtitled To which are Added Personal Recollections Illustrative of the Reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI ( French : Mémoires sur la vie privée de Marie Antoinette, suivis de souvenirs et anecdotes historiques sur les règnes de Louis XIV – XV );

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1408-458: The most cultivated society. By the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her academic accomplishments as to be appointed reader to Louis XV 's daughters ( Mesdames Victoire , Sophie and Louise ) in 1768, and Femme de chambre to Marie Antoinette in 1770. She was a general favourite at court , and when in 1774 she bestowed her hand upon Pierre-Dominique-François Berthollet Campan, son of

1452-684: The paternal grandfather of actress Glenn Close . Edward Francis Hutton : Post was married for a second time, in 1920, to financier Edward Francis Hutton . In 1923, he became the chairman of the board of the Postum Cereal Company. Together they developed a larger variety of food products, including Birdseye Frozen Foods . The company became the General Foods Corporation in 1929. Post and Hutton divorced in 1935. They had one daughter: Joseph E. Davies : In 1935, Post married her third husband, Joseph E. Davies ,

1496-469: The recognized governmental authority. Neither Post nor Davies were involved with the original seizing of the items. Allegations later surfaced that many works of art from the Tretyakov Gallery and other collections were either donated or offered at nominal prices to the couple, who were both art collectors. Davies is also alleged to have purchased art expropriated from Soviet citizens well after

1540-502: The replica settings to allow them to be placed into one of Ms Post's necklaces, flanking a smaller 13.95 carat triangular diamond. Upon the sale of the earrings to the Smithsonian Institution, the additional diamonds and links were removed, though the new platinum settings and the Cartier tops remain. The original silver-and-gold settings remain intact, though not on display with their replacements. The earrings have been on display in

1584-594: The royal family happened to be present while the Queen was dressing, the dame d’honneur yielded to her the latter act of office, but still did not yield it directly to the Princesses of the blood; in such a case the dame d’honneur was accustomed to present the linen to the Première femme de Chambre , who, in her turn, handed it to the Princess of the blood. Each of these ladies observed these rules scrupulously as affecting her rights. One winter’s day it happened that

1628-492: The secretary of the royal cabinet, the king gave her an annuity of 5,000 livres as dowry. The marriage was unhappy and the couple separated in 1790. Campan was promoted to Première femme de Chambre by Marie Antoinette in 1786; and she continued to attend on her until the 10 August 1792 storming of the Tuileries Palace , in which she was left behind in the palace when the queen and the royal family left prior to

1672-461: The storming. With her own house pillaged and burned that day, Henriette sought asylum in the countryside. She survived the Reign of Terror , but after the 9th of Thermidor , finding herself almost penniless, and being thrown on her own resources by the illness of her spouse, Campan determined to support herself by in 1794 establishing a school at Saint-Germain-en-Laye . The institution prospered, and

1716-473: The tops of the earrings with triangular diamonds mounted in platinum links. As such, the original tops of the earrings have been lost. The primary stones of both earrings are relatively rare colourless high-clarity type IIa diamonds . In 1959, Post commissioned Harry Winston, Inc. to replace the remaining silver and gold settings with platinum replicas, studded with additional smaller diamonds and metal links. The central diamond drops were made detachable from

1760-468: Was patronized by Hortense de Beauharnais , whose influence led to the appointment of Campan as superintendent of the academy founded by Napoleon at Écouen for the education of the orphaned daughters of members of his Légion d'honneur in 1807. She held this post until it was abolished at the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, when she retired to Mantes, where she spent the rest of her life amid

1804-449: Was a masterpiece of etiquette; everything was done in a prescribed form. Both the Dame d'honneur and the dame d’atours usually attended and officiated, assisted by the first femme de chambre and two ordinary women. The dame d’atours put on the petticoat, and handed the gown to the Queen. The dame d’honneur poured out the water for her hands and put on her linen. When a princess of

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1848-420: Was originally part of a triplex built for Merriwether Post in the 1920s. The redesign was undertaken by Eric Clough and his architectural firm, 212box. American filmmaker J. J. Abrams purchased the rights to "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" but as yet no film about it has been produced. Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland , is named in her honor because of her years of sustained financial support for

1892-460: Was portrayed by Ann Harding in the 1943 film Mission to Moscow . It was a dramatization of the book by the same title, written by her third husband Joseph E. Davies, who had chronicled his time as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Anne Francis portrayed Merriweather Post in the 1987 miniseries Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story . She was portrayed by Morgan Bradley in

1936-644: Was to Herbert A. May, a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman and the former master of fox hounds of the Rolling Rock Hunt Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania . That marriage ended in divorce in May 1964 and she subsequently reclaimed the name Marjorie Merriweather Post. Post died at her Hillwood estate in Washington, D.C. , on September 12, 1973, after a long illness, and was buried there. She left the bulk of her estate to her three daughters. Merriweather Post

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