01 The World’s Most Beautiful Jewel
Elizabeth Taylor, with her stunning beauty and immense wealth, has truly lived a legendary life through her unparalleled elegance and rare jewels.
Those who know her well are aware that Elizabeth Taylor is known as the “evergreen tree of Hollywood” and “the most beautiful woman in the world.” Her beauty is a gift from God. Taylor was naturally born with double thick eyelashes, and her eyes are a rare shade of violet.
The famous American literary critic, Truman Capote, once marveled at her after meeting her:
The pair of violet eyes on her face, quietly blooming like lilacs, are the captive’s dream in prison, the secretary’s daydream, so unreal, so unattainable, yet so tranquil and shy, crystal and fragile, with the warmth of humanity, and a hint of restless doubt.
Famed at the age of 12, married at 18, and became a movie star at 19. Taylor, who could have been remembered for her beauty alone, chose to prove herself with her talent. She not only won the Best Actress award at the Oscars twice and was nominated four times, but she also became the first actress in history to be paid a million dollars for a film.
Being an Oscar-winning actress and possessing breathtaking beauty is already enough to make people envious, but Taylor had even more to make people green with envy – her life was filled with jewels and luxury.
Taylor had a lifelong passion for jewelry and collected many pieces from renowned jewelers, including Bvlgari, David Webb, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and JAR. In 2002, Taylor published a book titled “My Love Affair with Jewelry.” This autobiography contains stories and memories from her life.
Her story with jewelry began on the eighth day after her birth when the first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was her mother’s engagement ring.
At the age of 13, she purchased her first piece of jewelry, a brooch, which she gifted to her mother for Mother’s Day. Since then, jewelry became a lifelong hobby for her.
Although Taylor has been passionate about jewelry since childhood, the story of her collection is inseparable from her marriage. She went through eight marriages with seven husbands (the fifth and sixth being the same person), and each husband expressed his love for her with jewelry. Her love is a true “carat love.”
In her first and second marriages, Taylor received two rings, a 4-carat engagement diamond ring worth $10,000 at the time (given by her first husband, Hilton Hotel heir Nicky Hilton), and a sapphire ring (given by her second husband, British actor Michael Wilding).
Her third husband, Michael Todd (a famous Hollywood film producer), officially started Taylor’s jewelry life. Their engagement ring was a 29.4-carat emerald ring, and the large ring face was humorously referred to by Taylor as a “skating rink.”
To be honest, Michael Todd really cherished Elizabeth Taylor. Not only did he buy her jewelry, but he also occasionally said some golden phrases that touched Taylor’s heart. He once gave Taylor an antique diamond tiara made in 1880 and confessed emotionally, “You’re my queen, and I think you should have a tiara.” (You are my queen, and I think you should have a tiara).
In 2011, this tiara was auctioned for $4.22 million.
Michael Todd created many surprising and romantic moments as well. That year, the young couple lived in a villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, where Taylor was about to go swimming. Todd, pretending to be casual, approached her suddenly and took out three Cartier jewelry boxes, which contained this incredibly gorgeous set of rubies.
The thoughtful Michael Todd once did something that deeply moved Taylor. In 1957, when Todd and Taylor were sightseeing in Paris, they saw a pair of fake gemstone earrings that Taylor insisted on buying but was stopped by her husband. A few months later, Taylor received a pair of earrings that looked exactly the same, only this time, Todd had replaced them all with diamonds.
If Michael Todd started Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry life, then her fifth and sixth husband, Richard Burton (the male lead of Cleopatra), was the one who filled her jewelry collection, and he gave her expensive and numerous pieces.
Their way of getting along was also very cute. They would buy jewelry when they disagreed, and Richard Burton always found reasons to give her jewelry. For example, their table tennis and swimming matches could become excuses to give her jewelry. It was even exaggerated to “Today is Tuesday, let’s go buy a Bulgari” (COCO also wants to experience the happiness of the rich in her lifetime).
Of course, when it comes to the “divine assistance jewelry” in their love, Bulgari must be mentioned. For example, in the movie Cleopatra, where they first met and co-starred, Taylor wore a lot of Bulgari snake jewelry.
Nowadays, the Serpenti series, inspired by the totem of the divine snake, has become the iconic series of Bvlgari.
Her thick black triangular eyeliner, which extends to the temples in the movie, has become the source of inspiration for Bvlgari’s Diva series of high-end jewelry.
The most renowned piece of jewelry that Burton gave to Taylor also came from Bvlgari. The most significant of these was the emerald brooch he gave her in 1962 – featuring a 23.44-carat Colombian octagonal step-cut emerald, surrounded by dazzling pear-shaped diamond cuts. This brooch was also the only piece of jewelry Taylor wore at their first wedding.
On Taylor’s 40th birthday, Richard Burton gave her a Bvlgari long necklace as a birthday gift. The large polished conical sapphire was designed in the Art Deco style popular in the early 20th century, with a geometric pattern centered around a sugarloaf cabochon Burmese sapphire weighing approximately 65 carats.
Later, Taylor discovered a sapphire ring that matched the sapphire necklace Burton gave her in 1972, and she happily purchased it.
In addition to gemstones, the warm and moist pearls are also one of Taylor’s favorites, among which the most famous is the La Peregrina (Wanderer) pearl necklace. This pearl is said to have been discovered in the 16th century and once belonged to the royal family – Prince Philip II of Spain, and later served as a wedding gift for Queen Mary of the Tudor dynasty.
In 1969, Burton spent $37,000 to buy this precious pear-shaped pearl as a 37th birthday gift for Taylor.
This teardrop-shaped natural pearl weighs 223 grams and was the largest pearl in the world when it was discovered.
Taylor drew inspiration from Queen Mary’s portrait to recreate this necklace, which is also inlaid with expensive rubies and diamonds, and can be described as extremely luxurious.
In COCO’s view, the most romantic gift Richard Burton gave to Taylor was these three super-large diamonds. The first is the Cartier-Taj Mahal Heart-Shaped Diamond, Taylor said: “At first, Richard joked that he originally wanted to buy the Taj Mahal for me, but it was too big and we couldn’t move it back to our home in Switzerland. This necklace was my consolation prize.”
The heart-shaped diamond, originally produced by Cartier, was a gift from the 17th-century Iranian King Jahangir to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal (also known as the owner of the Taj Mahal), and it was one of Elizabeth Taylor’s cherished treasures.
In 2001, the necklace was auctioned for $8.81 million, which was the highest price ever paid for Indian jewelry in history.
Secondly, the 33.19-carat “Krupp Diamond” was purchased by Richard Burton for $30,500 in 1968. He then commissioned the diamond supplier Harry Winston to create a ring and gifted it to Taylor. Taylor wore the ring for over 40 years until her death.
There is also the largest and most beautiful diamond in the world, named the Taylor-Burton Diamond. This diamond originated from South Africa, with the original stone weighing over 240 carats, and was later polished into a 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond. Initially designed as a ring, Elizabeth Taylor felt it was too large for her, so she asked Cartier to redesign it into a necklace.
Taylor’s jewelry collection was not only gifts from her ex-husbands, but she also owned a lot of jewelry and was a very smart investor. She targeted jewelry with rare craftsmanship and a long history. Once, she bought a gold coin from the time of Henry VIII and strung it together with her children’s names.
After eight marriages, Elizabeth shifted her focus to philanthropy and founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research, using her influence to accomplish many things. In 2000, she was awarded the title of Dame by the Queen of England. In 2001, at the age of 69, she also received the Presidential Medal of Honor.
Even in her later years, she suffered from over 70 illnesses, was hospitalized more than 100 times in 25 years, and underwent 30-40 surgeries. However, as long as her body could withstand it, she tirelessly raised funds for children and patients.
She also instructed that all her jewelry be donated to society and humanity. Her collection was auctioned by Christie’s, and the jewelry eventually sold for a total of $156 million, with the clothing fetching $5.5 million. All the proceeds were donated to charitable foundations.
Elizabeth Taylor’s great love will be remembered for much longer than her famous jewelry.
02 “The World’s Second Most Beautiful Jewel”
What does the jewelry box that even Elizabeth Taylor coveted look like? Next, Mrs. Simpson will enlighten you.
When Taylor visited the Duchess of Windsor (Mrs. Simpson), after seeing this famous feather-shaped brooch, she was very eager to own it and once wanted to borrow it for imitation but was refused by the Duchess of Windsor.
It was not until after the Duchess’s death that Taylor was able to acquire this piece of jewelry that she had been waiting for more than a decade.
The Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry was mostly given by the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII), and each piece is filled with the lover’s intentions. Many of the jewelry pieces were inscribed with love words by the Duke of Windsor, which is simply too “killing”.
For example, on the same day when Mrs. Simpson divorced her ex-husband, the Duke proposed to her with an emerald ring weighing 19.77 carats. The ring was engraved with “We are ours now 27 X 36”, which represents that since the proposal on October 27, 1936, we belong to each other.
In 1936, Duke of Windsor gave up the throne for love. In his abdication speech, he said: “Without a woman I love by my side to help and support me, I don’t think I can bear the heavy responsibility of being a king, so I choose to give up the throne.” Since then, the second monarch of the Windsor Dynasty has become the only king in the history of the British Empire who abdicated voluntarily after less than a year.
In the same month of his abdication, he gave a pocket watch to the Duchess, with their names engraved on the dial: Wallis Easter 28 -III -37 David.
In 1937, Duke of Windsor and his wife got married in France, with no one from the royal family present, but it still couldn’t stop their hearts from moving forward.
At their wedding, Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) gave his wife a cross bracelet from Cartier. Each cross on the bracelet has the significant dates of their acquaintance and love engraved on the back, symbolizing the mark of their love.
There is also a Cartier gold cigarette case that is equally ingenious. The cigarette case is engraved with a map, and each mark represents a place they have visited together. How can any girl not be moved by such creativity and sincerity?
To make up for his wife’s regret of not being able to become a queen, he spent a fortune to win a smile from her, buying countless jewelry treasures for her, the most notable of which are high-end jewelry from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
In the Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry collection, there are a large number of animal-themed jewelry pieces, almost all of which were specially designed for her by the designers of Cartier, the “Royal Jeweler” commissioned by the Duke of Windsor. In 1946, the Duke of Windsor commissioned Cartier to make this sapphire panther brooch weighing 152.35 carats to comfort Mrs. Simpson, whose jewelry had been stolen.
This brooch also has a story. The head of the brooch’s panther can be turned left and right. When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor attended banquets together, if the Duchess wanted to leave, she only needed to turn the head of the panther to the left, and the Duke of Windsor would know it was time to leave. This used to be a little secret between the Duke and Duchess.
Afterward, the Duke of Windsor continued to create other “panther” themed jewelry for his wife, which earned her the title of “The Panther Lady.”
Even during World War II when they were staying in France, the Duke of Windsor still remembered to customize jewelry for his wife from Cartier. The most famous piece is this flamingo brooch, which is composed of a ring-cut emerald, sapphire, and ruby, a cabochon sapphire, and a citrine, and is very delicate and lively. The legs and feet of the flamingo can also move freely.
In addition, this Cartier Draperie necklace is set with gold and platinum, adorned with brilliant long diamonds, heart-shaped amethysts, and 27 emerald-cut amethysts, along with round cabochon turquoise embellishments. It is an exquisite design that would be considered beautiful in any era.
To complement this exquisite necklace, in 1954, the Duke of Windsor gave his wife a round bead bracelet, also inlaid with amethysts.
The Duchess of Windsor, who was fond of fashion, favored jewelry with unique design shapes. Among them, the most famous is the Zip necklace from Van Cleef & Arpels, which was specially customized for her by the Duke of Windsor.
The special feature of this Zip necklace is that when the zipper is open, it is a necklace, and when some parts are removed and the zipper is closed, it can be worn as a bracelet. To this day, this zipper necklace remains a representative work of Van Cleef & Arpels, with a unique shape and exquisite craftsmanship.
In April 1987, Sotheby’s held the world-famous “Duchess of Windsor Jewels Auction” in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 1,000 people attended the auction, and nearly a thousand people participated simultaneously via satellite, setting a new record for auction attendance.
However, in accordance with the wishes of the Duchess of Windsor before her death, most of the proceeds from the auction of her jewelry were donated to the Pasteur Institute in Paris for cancer research.
It was also because of this public auction that we were able to explore the love between this legendary couple through these jewels. Although the jewelry was silent at this time, it moved people more than any language.
Even though these two stories have been long ago, it is believed that these jewels will carry this beauty and be passed down forever.
