Antoinette Bonner

Antoinette Bonner (1892–1920) was a Romanian American jewel thief. Acting as an agent for diamond merchants from New York's Maiden Lane, she sold jewelry to wealthy society women and came to be known as the "Queen of Diamonds". Born in Romania, she learned the appraisal of gems from her father and later immigrated to the United States. In 1913, she was charged with grand larceny after failing to pay for $150,000 to $250,000 of jewelry she had acquired on memorandum from around ten separate diamond brokers. She fled to France and was arrested in Paris in 1914. Following her extradition to the United States, she was acquitted of the charges. Later in 1920, she was again charged with stealing jewels in Manhattan. When the police came to an office at Park Row Building to place her under arrest, she cried "you'll never take me alive" and swallowed a vial of potassium cyanide, killing herself.

Early life Antoinette Bonner was born in Romania in 1892. Her father and other men in her family were jewel dealers. From the age of six, she was taught how to appraise jewels, including how to determine their color and clarity. and a "woman of some personal charm". Bonner, Brescher, and his brother were found to have sold some of the missing jewelry to a pawn shop. More of the jewelry was found at other pawn shops and another three men were involved in their sale. Within two days, an order for her arrest was issued by the district attorney. An article in the New York Times indicated that Bonner and Brescher had disappeared with $150,000 to $250,000 from firms on Maiden Lane. According to an attorney representing the jewellers that she defrauded, Bonner had legitimately sold around $1 million in jewels in the two years prior to fleeing the country. She was given colorful nicknames in newspapers, including the "Queen of Diamonds", "Miss Amethyst", and "The Queen of Confidence Women".

Arrest and extradition An international manhunt for Bonner and Brescher was conducted by both police and private detectives hired by the diamond merchants. The pair evaded authorities until they were finally arrested in Paris in May 1914. Their extradition was postponed due to the outbreak of World War I. On a charge of grand larceny of a $685 lavallière they were acquitted due to a faulty indictment. The pair were held for trail on other indictments, but the charges were eventually dropped after much of the merchandise was recovered from pawn shops. Upon her arrest, she wrenched free from the clutches of the detective and cried out "you'll never take me alive" before pulling a vial of potassium cyanide out of her handbag and swallowing the poison. (Some sources refer to the poison she used as strychnine.) An ambulance was called that took her to Volunteer Hospital, and she died there, having already become moribund. She was 32. In her handbag, police found several hundred dollars in cash and about $30,000 worth of diamonds.