"My mother says I didn't open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked." - Elizabeth Taylor
About seven years ago, I stumbled upon "Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry", a coffee table book full of glossy color photos of her incredible jewelry.
Really, it's a biography told through precious stones. Her jewelry, while sometimes strange and always over the top, is mind-blowing. I have looked through that book a ton of times, and I always see something new.
After she died in March of this year, her jewelry collection was gathered up (it's reported value is $150 million) and it will be auctioned off at Christie's in New York in December. But before that event, a portion of the jewels are taking one last trip around the world together, and they made a 3-day stop at Christie's in London. This was my chance to see the real things in person and I wasn't about to miss it! I met my friend Lauren there and we just walked around the exhibition, mouths agape.
This is walking into the special Christie's Elizabeth Taylor exhibition; even in death the woman commands great archways of live flowers.
They allowed cameras, which I was kind of surprised at and very pleased about! The order of these photos is more or less how we saw them. The prices are what is listed in the exhibition folder, but I imagine they could go for even more at auction.
Click on the pictures to see more detail, it's worth it!
Kunzite, amethyst & diamond "Triphanes" Sautoir, by Van Cleef & Arpels
$70,000 - 100,000
(I loved this, the purple was so beautiful)
Diamond bracelet, $30,000 - 50,000
The Daisy Parure, a suite of diamond & multi-gem "Reine Marguerite" jewelry, Van Cleef & Arpels
(matching earrings and brooch not pictured)
$200,000 - 300,000
I have a soft spot for charm bracelets. I had one as a child (which I later lost and am still sick over) and I now have my grandmother's with charms from all of her travels. They are at once ubiquitous and deeply personal. One of these charms is a globe that opens up and has each of the names of her children and their birth dates inscribed.
Gold & multi-gem charm bracelet
$15,000 - 20,000
Gold & multi-gem charm bracelet
$25,000 - 35,000
The exhibition included some of her clothing as well - most of it was a bit eccentric (black velvet cape with silver embroidered scorpions??). This was a kimono that was designed for her as "Flora 'Sissy' Goforth" in the 1968 film Boom!
$4,000 - 6,000
While I could never pull something like this off - a snake watch - there is a picture of her in the book wearing it, as well as her signature cutting Cleopatra eyes, and she looks awesome.
Diamond & emerald "snake" bracelet-watch, Bulgari
$12,000 - 15,000
I'm so sad my picture of these little rings didn't really turn out, it's one of my favorite stories. These are called the Ping Pong Rings. While at home in Gstaad with her husband Richard Burton (one of her two great loves), she challenged him to a game of ping pong, a game they both loved to play. Burton said that if she could get 10 points on him he would give her a diamond. Of course she rose to the challenge and got her 10 points and so he set into town to buy her a diamond - and came back with three tiny, but perfect, little diamonds. They both got a great big kick out of it. She would wear them along with her 33.19 ct diamond (photo coming later) and when someone would remark on her diamond and ask to see it, she would thrust her tiny ping pong diamonds in their face and say, "yes, aren't they perfect?!"
Pear-shaped diamond ring, 16.98 ct
$20,000 - 30,000 (which sounds really low to me)
This is a show-stopper piece. It's called the Taj Mahal Diamond, circa 1627, and Richard Burton gave it to her in 1972 for her 40th birthday. Inscribed with the name "Nur Jahan", the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahangir, this heart-shaped diamond is believed to have been a gift from the ruler to his son, who became the great emperor Shah Jahan (1592 - 1666). At the age of 35, it is believed that the young prince presented the diamond to his favorite and most beloved wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal. The emperor's grief at her death just four years later was legendary - in her memory he commissioned the majestic Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. Richard Burton said, "I would have liked to buy her the Taj Mahal, but it would cost too much to transport."
The Taj Mahal Diamond pendant necklace
$300,000 - 500,000
I have lots more, but I could only fit so much into one blog! More to come shortly!
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