credit: Getty Images
A pair of shoes that once belonged to Marie Antoinette sold for more than $82,000 at auction last week in Paris. The shoes are believed to have been a gift from Alexandre-Bernard Ju-Des-Rets in 1775. The auction was held the day after the anniversary of her beheading: October 16. 1793.
Last May, a different pair of shoes sold at auction for $57,000. Before we scoff that the tri-color mules were a steal, they were only expected to sell for between $6,000 and $13,000.
credit: AFP 2012
The pair pictured above are believed to be from the 1790s, when the tri-color was style. It’s not that I was expecting to find a pair of Dr. Scholl’s inserts, but EGAD they did not have arch support back then! Unlike her dress size (unreleased!) the last Queen of France was a approximately a “US size” 6, a 36 if you’re shopping on the Continent.
Naturally, the big question is, if you had eighty large to spend on shoes which pair would you pick? The green-striped heeled slippers or the tricolor mules?
Would you stash them in a display case or would you cave to the temptation to wear them like the second owner of her court dress now on display at the Royal Ontario Museum?
history buff, jewelry whore, chatterbox, mets fan
The green striped. But since I could never hoe to fit my foot in it, and the fact that the toe is hideously pointed, it would go behind a display case. 🙂
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Typo correction: ‘hoe’ was supposed to be ‘hope’
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zoinks! thanks for the heads-up!
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contrary to the female stereotype, I’ve never been a ho for shoes 😀 but I’d probably go for the mules as the other ones look like high-heeled Chuck Taylors or something.
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