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After Queen Elizabeth II, actress Elizabeth Taylor owned the largest private jewelry collection in the world. Her passion for diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls was as inordinate as her fondness for going through the vicarage. Aware of the great fortune he had in precious stones, the last great classic Hollywood star always confessed that "I am not the owner of these pieces, I am only their custody."

One of the most spectacular jewels was the 33.19 carat Krupp diamond that belonged to Vera Krupp, wife of the industrialist Alfried Krupp, a faithful ally of Hitler to whom he offered the production of his steel factories. After World War II, the businessman was tried for war crimes and for using numerous Jews from the concentration camps as cheap labor.

When Vera passed away, Richard Burton acquired it at auction for $ 307,000 in 1968 and was gifted by Elizabeth Taylor while she was on the Kalizma (a combination of the first syllables of her three daughters, Kate, Liza and Maria), their private yacht. which was docked on the River Thames in London. On several occasions, instead of staying at the exclusive Dorchester Hotel, they chose to live on their ship because they did not want their pets to suffer due to the quarantine.

Richard Burton bought the diamond for more than $ 300,000 in 1968 as a gift.

From that moment on, Taylor never took it out of his hand. It was her favorite jewel. It symbolized the love of Burton, the man she loved the most along with her third husband, producer Mike Todd, who gifted her the first pieces of fine jewelry, including a full Cartier dressing of Burmese diamonds and rubies and a tiara. of brilliants, among other acquisitions. And for him she converted to Judaism in 1959 at the Temple Israel in Hollywood where she adopted the Hebrew name of Elisheba Rachel. Those who attended the ceremony commented that hearing her pronounce "Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad" was really emotional.

For this reason, when the diamond began to show in his hand, he did not hesitate to confess to the press that "when it went up for auction in the late 60s I thought how perfect it would be if a pretty Jewish girl like me were the owner." The center stone is cut to Asscher cut, has a color grade D (extremely rare) and a purity grade VS1 (practically perfect), is set in a platinum ring designed by the prestigious jeweler Harry Winston and has a brilliant on both sides. baguette cut.

One of the funniest anecdotes featured the actress and Princess Margaret of England. The two had previously met at different events, but at a wedding in London, the sister of the Queen of England noticed the actress's fabulous ring. "Is that the famous diamond?" How great! What vulgar ", to which Taylor replied:" Would you like to try it "When the princess was engrossed watching him on her finger, the star snapped him.? " What now does not seem so vulgar? " .

The Krupp diamond, 33.19 carats.GTRES

Married twice to Richard Burton, the Welsh interpreter gave him the most expensive and important pieces of jewelry. After the death of the protagonist of Cleopatra , her estate was auctioned at Christie's at the end of 2011. Burton's jewels reached the highest prices, for example, the Pilgrim pearl that belonged to the Bourbons was awarded for 11.8 million dollars ; a set of Bvlgari emeralds fetched $ 24.7 million and the 17th-century Taj Mahal diamond sold for $ 7.8 million. However, Krupp reached the astronomical figure of 8.8 million dollars.

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