I've had my calendar marked for months now, anticipating the auction by Christie's of the legendary jewelry owned by Elizabeth Taylor. The items up for auction have been on display in New York for the public to view before the sale started. An online auction began December 3 and will continue until the 17th. The online auction had some affordable pieces listed with some prices starting at only a few hundred dollars. But, after looking at the prices of what those pieces went for, it seems as if they were all in the thousands of dollars.
A few thousand dollars was not the case last night when I watched some of the auction live and the auctioneer started the bidding in the tens of thousands of dollars and the bids increased in increments of $20,000. It was fun to watch, I always like an auction and this one was particularly exciting. December 13 marked the beginning of the sale of the significant pieces and will continue until December 16. The sale has been divided up into the categories of: The Legendary Jewels ( I and II), The Icon and Her Haute Couture, Fashion and Accessories, Fine and Decorative Art & Film Memorabilia, including costumes.
Christie's had all the pieces on display for viewing, called the A to Z of Elizabeth Taylor. Below are pictures of the display of kaftans and handbags. All pieces were in near perfect condition.
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Christie's reports today that the jewelry set a world record for the most valuable private collection of jewels sold at auction with $115,932,000, shattering the previous 1987 record set by the jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, which didn't come close to this dollar figure. Those sales totaled $50,281,887.
A record was set last night with the sale of the famous Burton diamond ring. An almost completely flawless diamond of 33.19 carats sold for $8,818,500. The ring's estimated value was 2.5 to 3.5 million, but one has to factor in the Elizabeth Taylor mystique that goes along with that ring and everything else that is being sold. Therefore, you know the price is going to be more that the actual value.
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| "...When I look into it, the deep Asscher cuts-which are so complete and so ravishing-are like steps that lead into eternity and beyond. My ring gives me the strangest feeling for beauty. With its sparks of red and white and blue and purple, and on and on, really, it sort of hums with its own beatific life..." Elizabeth Taylor, My Love Affair with Jewelry |
The other record for the night was the sale of the La Peregrina pearl, diamond and ruby necklace by Cartier. The necklace was estimated to go for 2 to 3 million dollars but the hammer price was $11,842,500.
The famous drop-shaped pearl on this necklace has a rich history. It was discovered by a slave in the Gulf of Panama sometime in the 1500s and was given his freedom because of the find. It ended up as part of the Spanish royal jewels, Prince Philip II of Spain gave it to Mary Tudor of England as an engagement present. In succeeding generations it was owned by the Spanish queens Margarita and Isabel. The next major owner of the pearl was the Bonaparte family in the 1800s. This pearl was a gift from Richard Burton and he enjoyed buying his wife jewelry, particularly pieces that held historical significance such as this one. Taylor once lost the pearl and she frantically searched the room for it before Burton found out that it was lost. Finally, as a last resort, she picked up her little Maltese dog and felt in its mouth, there, miraculously unscratched, was the pearl.
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| The Burtons commissioned Cartier to design a new mount for the pear-shaped pearl. The diamond bail suspending the pearl is original to the piece. When Burton purchased it in 1969 for $37,000 it was suspended on a simple pearl and platinum chain. A large photograph of this piece is on the back cover of My Love Affair with Jewelry. |
Two portraits made by Valasquez, the great Spanish court painter, depicts the two queens wearing the pearl.
Daughter-in-law to Queen Margarita, Queen Isabel, wears the pearl suspended from a long necklace.
Several different auction catalogues can be purchased. The one I found to be particularly interesting was the Limited Edition Box Set which is selling for $600. This box set includes the out of print book by Elizabeth Taylor, My Love Affair with Jewelry and Christie's auction catalogue for The Legendary Jewels, Evening Sale. Numbered 51/2000 - 2000/2000 and stamped Edition B. Christie's will donate all profits from the sale of this Limited Edition set to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. I have the book My Love Affair with Jewelry and did not even know it was out of print. I have enjoyed that book and enjoyed sharing it with my friends. The book is a large coffee table one with detailed photographs of her jewelry-- so close that you can even see the scratches on some of the gold. The text consists of interesting anecdotes about each piece by Taylor.
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| A picture of the cover of my book, My Love Affair with Jewelry. |
I think I will print out a list of the jewels sold, just for a kind of record and update to the book for my own personal enjoyment. I have recently learned that this type of thing was done as a hobby by wealthy Victorians. Whenever they would see something in print concerning an author or an update to a book they owned, they would insert that into their book. I have done sort of the same thing to a few of my books, although one does not have to be wealthy now days to own a book, cut articles out of a newspaper or print something from the Internet to include with their book. But, it was interesting to learn that other people were thinking the same way. And I thought my idea was original!
The following is the interesting disclaimer that went with the pieces bought at the sale:
By registering to bid, you hereby agree that the copyright, and any and all associated intellectual property and other rights for this item are exclusively retained by The Elizabeth Taylor Trust and/or Interplanet Productions, Ltd. Buyers of the Property will not receive the copyright or any related reproduction rights in the Property and all intellectual property rights are explicitly reserved by Seller and are freely exploitable by Seller in perpetuity. Furthermore, the use of Elizabeth Taylor’s name, photograph or likeness may not be used relating to this item without the express written permission of The Elizabeth Taylor Trust and/or Interplanet Productions Ltd.
