Elizabeth Taylor's Bulgari Brooch Is For Sale
It's no secret that Elizabeth Taylor had a voracious appetite for high jewelry. So important were the pieces she amassed throughout her life—and via her eight husbands—that they were known as the Crown Jewels of Hollywood and broke records when they went up for auction at Christie's in 2011, netting more than $137 million. Still, to this day, it's the most successful single-owner jewelry auction in history. (You may have heard of La Peregrina?)
And while the legendary screen star didn't discriminate when it came to the heritage maisons she patronized, she had a particularly special relationship with Bulgari. "The only word she knows in Italian is Bulgari," Richard Burton once said. "I introduced Liz to beer and she introduced me to Bulgari."
Theirs was a pairing as iconic as caviar and champagne, amethyst and turquoise. And one that would materialize such treasures as the 18-carat Colombian emerald pendant-brooch, her first Bulgari acquisition, which she received as an engagement gem from Burton—it was surrounded by 12 pear-cut diamonds and could be attached to a matching emerald and diamond necklace he bought her two years later. Both sold in that Christie's auction for more than $6 million each. There was also a diamond and sapphire sautoir anchored by a 52.72-carat sugarloaf cabochon sapphire, a 40th birthday gift from Burton, and coin necklaces and Serpentis, too.
Now, another Bulgari jewel from that historic auction has resurfaced—and this one is for sale. The platinum and gold multicolored brooch (above), studded with diamonds and 17.5 carats of blue and pink sapphires, fetched more $68,500 in 2011, against a low estimate of $8,000. The heirloom is currently being offered by M.S. Rau, the 110-year-old New Orleans-based purveyor of art, antiques, and jewelry. Take it from Taylor herself: "I’ve never thought of my jewelry as trophies," she famously quipped. "I’m here to take care of it and to love it, for we are only temporary custodians of beauty."
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