The love affair that burned too deep and the fiery gemstones that accompanied it
Source: Daily Mail
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton was the perfect match – that lit a scorching fire to spell their end, leaving behind an unrivalled jewellery collection
"Hollywood royalty” might have been coined just to describe Elizabeth Taylor’s vaunted beauty and regal carriage.
With her trademark blue-violet peepers and a figure that would have stoked the envy of Cleopatra herself (whom she famously played), the actress was eventually made a dame by her namesake Queen Elizabeth in her native Britain.
But more than the titular connection to a royal family, what her adoring fans remember her by is not just her legendary film presence but her tempestuous relationships with men, resulting in eight marriages! Perhaps the most notable one being the love of her life, Richard Burton whom she married and divorced twice. His ardour for her bordered on idolatry and sparked the creation of one of the most treasured trove of jewels known to the world.
When in Rome
Burton, a fellow British exile in Hollywood, was in every way the two-time Oscar-winner’s equal. A formidable Shakespearean actor before storming onto the silver screen, he swept Elizabeth off her feet when the pair met for the first time on the set of Cleopatra in 1962. Their chemistry was undeniable; it was said that their onscreen kiss went on for far longer than production required.
At that point, Elizabeth was married to her fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, who had left Debbie Reynolds to pursue her affections. But her attraction towards her co-star was too strong to resist and she succumbed to an affair, prompting a global scandal. Even the Vatican weighed in, condemned their behaviour as "erotic vagrancy”. Nosy reporters would stalk the trysting couple as they continued filming in Rome and the actors would then duck into the Bulgari store on Via Condotti to escape the flashing lightbulbs.
It was here that Elizabeth and Richard (or “Liz and Dick”, as they eventually became referred to by the jet set) found respite in between takes for the Cleopatra movie.
“I introduced Liz to beer, she introduced me to Bulgari,” Burton had fondly quipped. This marked the beginning of his compulsive habit of showering his queen with all manner of jewels, each subsequent gift of gems more extravagant than the one before. In the store, he was said to pay close attention to the emotion on her face as she perused the displays before sensing the ones that have caught her consummate gaze and then sweeping off to buy them.
Source: Paris Match
Jewels fit for a queen
Liz had already been a known collector and admirer of Bulgari’s fine craftsmanship and precious jewels and her emerald and ruby pieces gifted by ex-husband Eddie Fisher was well-documented.
Perhaps to outdo his predecessors, Dick began a life-long quest to source and procure the world’s largest and most lavish pieces of jewellery in an excessive display of the love he had for his leading lady.
It began with an engagement brooch of an octagonal step-cut Colombian emerald of 23.44 carats gifted in 1962. It was worn by the actress on their wedding day in 1964 attached as a pendant to a matching necklace of 60.50 carats, each emerald in a surround of brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds
Source: Christies
In 1968, Dick acquired a 33-carat diamond for his beloved. Initially known as the Krupp diamond (so named after the Krupp German family of industrialists), the 1920s Asscher cut stone eventually took on the name of Elizabeth Taylor Diamond. Dick purchased it for a cool US$307,000 and presented it to Liz aboard their yacht, the Kalizma. It turned out to be one of her most favourite pieces which she wore set as a ring and has made appearances in films and on television appearances.
Source: Christies
The next big acquisition was the La Peregrina, the largest known and allegedly most perfect tear drop shaped pearl that was purchased by Dick for US$37,000 at a Sotheby’s auction as a Valentine’s Day gift for his Liz in 1969 and redesigned by Cartier in the form of a necklace set with more pearls as well as diamonds and rubies. La Peregrina was believed to have been owned for hundreds of years by royal families.
In her book Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry, Taylor humorously described how the statement piece was almost swallowed by one of her puppies before she managed to safely retrieve it.
Source: Troy Clancy
But perhaps the most wondrous piece in her collection – its crown jewel so to speak – was the South African mined Taylor-Burton Diamond which weighed in at a hefty 68 carats and set into a pear shape solitaire ring flanked by two smaller diamonds.
The manner in which the item was sought was also fraught with drama. At the bidding in New York (via his proxy Al Yugler of jewelers Frank Pollock and Sons), Dick who had set his maximum bid at US$1 million lost out to Cartier by US$50,000. Other name-worthy underbidders included Aristotle Onassis, the Sultan of Brunei and jeweler Harry Winston.
Although Liz had told him that the loss “did not matter”, Dick turned into a “raving maniac”, spending an entire 24 hours after the auction chained to a payphone at the Bell Inn in Buckinghamshire, campaigning to purchase the magnificent gem from Cartier at all costs, even being prepared to pay double. In the end, his perseverance paid off and he managed to confirm it for Liz at the cost of US$1.1 million.
A diary entry explained the depth of emotion attached to winning the prize. He wrote, “I wanted that diamond because it is incomparably lovely ... and it should be on the loveliest woman in the world.”
But Liz, finding it too heavy on her finger, invested US$80,000 for the piece to be custom set within a diamond necklace designed to fit her neck for the primary purpose of covering her tracheotomy scar.
Source: Sky News
The fire that burned out
But these outlandish declarations of love were outpaced by their equally turbulent relationship.
Their blossoming careers and growing wealth meant a highly social life of exclusive parties, globe-trotting via yachts and private planes and impulsive acquisitions of valuable artwork, luxury cars and multiple homes across the world. Eventually their fast-paced celebrity life ended in chaos as their initially passionate relationship turned toxic.
Even apart, it was apparent that the two had a love like no other and it was an emotion that Dick felt compelled to continually express in jewels.
Eventually the couple divorced in 1974, though they could not stay apart for long. They remarried the following year but divorced again in 1976.
The remains of the day
On her own death, in 2011, her exquisite jewellery collection was auctioned for US$116 million at Christie’s, though few believe this cash sum came anywhere near to the actual value of each piece, not to mention the romance it was inspired by.
The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond alone was sold for US$8,818,500 while La Peregrina fetched a record price of more than US$11 million as part of the overall collection, auctioned at Christie’s.
As for the wondrous Taylor-Burton diamond, Liz had relinquished it much earlier in June 1979 after the couple’s second divorce. Henry Lambert, a New York jeweler was said to pay somewhere between US$3–5 million for it. Liz used part of the cash to build a hospital in Botswana, where she had married Dick for the second time in 1975. Later in the year, jeweller Robert Mouawad purchased it from Lambert and owns it to this day.
While the collection is no longer and its doomed owners have long turned to dust, the romance of the jewels lingers. Above all what is perhaps most intriguing is how the fiery love affair of a bygone era inspired a jewellery collection that was at one point unrivalled. Their existence and historical significance serve as an aide-memoire of Hollywood’s most iconic screen queen and the man who loved her to grand proportions.