Elizabeth Taylor’s world-famous jewels fetched a record $116 million at Christie’s on Tuesday. Some 80 precious items, including Mary Tudor’s pear-shaped pearl and her famous 33-carat diamond ring, doubled the record for a single collection.
Taylor’s collection, some of which was recently displayed in Moscow, had been estimated to raise about $20 million. Yet every piece of the collection sold for many times the estimates.
Most of the auctioned jewels were the witnesses to Dame Elizabeth’s renowned love affairs. The 16th-century pearl received from one of her seven husbands (twice), Richard Burton, and that used to belong to European royalty has sold for a record price of more than $11 million.
Another precious gift from Burton, the iconic 33.19-carat diamond ring which he bought for $300,000 in 1968, went for jaw-dropping $8.8 million, which is about three times the estimate, setting a record for a colorless diamond.
The four-hour sale broke the record for a single-owner jewelry collection before the halfway mark. The previous record was set in 1987, when the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels sold for just over $50 million.
Jewelry was Taylor’s major craze. She had pieces from some the world’s most famous jewelry brands, including Chopard, Cartier, Van Cleef Arpels and others.
Sales of Taylor’s precious belongings including over 400 dresses and art will be held later in the week. Part of the earned funds will go to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.