A Hollywood Icon and her Diamonds

Widely known for her Hollywood legacy and her love affairs, Elizabeth Taylor admits that her greatest love affair was with her jewelry.

“You can’t cry on a diamond’s shoulder, and diamonds won’t keep you warm at night, but they sure are fun when the sun shines,” Taylor once said about her collection.

Some key statement pieces of her diamond and jewelry collection include the Krupp diamond, the 69-carat Taylor-Burton diamond, La Peregrina Pearl, and the Taj Mahal Diamond.

She even marketed her love of jewelry into a brand, imbued notably in her classic “White Diamonds” fragrance, whose ad campaigns often had her draped in gems and diamonds.

In 2002, the actressed published “My Love Affair with Jewelry,” an oversized volume chronicling her prolific jewelry collection.

Additionally, some of her most regarded jewelry pieces come from her tumultuous marriages to Richard Burton, with whom she met on the set of “Cleopatra.”

The Taylor-Burton Diamond

They acquired the Krupp diamond, the Grand Duchess Vladimir Suite, the La Preregrina Pearl, and the massive Taylor-Butron Diamond, a 69-carat pear-shaped diamond. For Taylor’s 40^th birthday, Burton gifted her with the heart-shaped Taj Mahal diamond.

Some of her most treasured pieces were gifts from her ex-husband Mike Todd, who would lavish her with jewelry “just because.” Showman Mike Todd gave her a suite of Cartier diamonds and rubies just for swimming laps in a pool.

Taylor would deliberately wear her jewels uniquely. During the time she worked with hairstylist Alexandre de Paris, he would find ways of adorning jewelry into her hair, such as fastening a broach or weaving a string of pearls into an updo.

Later in her years, Taylor would often lend her jewelry to museums for exhibitions. “I am only their guardians.  Just like a painting, you can’t own jewelry,” she said.

 Dame Elizabeth Taylor passed away March 23, 2011, at the age of 79.