A white, silk shoe belonging to Marie Antoinette sold for 43,750€, according to Osenat Auction house.
The shoe’s toe is made of silk and the heel of goat leather, it has a leather sole and a 4.7 cm high heel, covered with gray leather. It is 22.5 cm long, which means that the queen wore what would be today a size 36 shoe.
The shoe was given to Marie-Emilie Leschevin de Prévoisin, a close friend of Madame Campan, the queen’s head chambermaid. Leschevin de Prévoisin kept it from the end of the 18th century until her death in 1816 and then passed it on to her descendants, in whose possession it is to this day.
Thanks to the “lively interest” shown by collectors, the price of the shoe far exceeded the initial estimate, which was around 8,000-10,000€.
Marie Antoinette, who was executed at the guillotine in 1793 as was her husband King Louis XVI, continues to fascinate collectors around the world to this day.
