But as far as jewelry goes, Elizabeth Taylor just had fun, and then some christmas gift sale. Rubies from Malcolm Forbes, gems from Richard Burton just because it was Tuesday or a beautiful day, lunches with the Duchess of Windsor, who was careful not to wear a diamond ring because “Elizabeth’s diamond is much bigger,” the duchess told her lady-in-waiting. “Give me the sapphire.” And tiaras from Mike Todd, one of Taylor’s seven husbands xmas gift . “You’re my queen,” Todd told her, “and I think you should have a tiara.”
Here’s Taylor receiving the Hasty Pudding Award at Harvard in 1977, when, leaning out a window, waving to “the guys,” her emerald-and-pearl necklace caught on the windowsill, the pearls showering the air. “Hey, guys — look!” she called out as the pearls twirled. “Could you possibly help find some of my pearls?” Could they ever.
When the 33.19-carat Krupp diamond came up for auction cheap Links of london Charms , Taylor thought, “How perfect it would be if a nice Jewish girl like me were to own it.” Although Burton bought it for her, and most of her gems came from her husbands, Taylor bought her first sparkler herself, a gold-plated brooch for her mother, from her savings selling Lux soap door to door.
“The independence of that act has stayed with me all these years,” she says.
Taylor continues: “I’ve never thought of my jewelry as trophies. I’m here to take care of it and to love it, for we are only temporary custodians of beauty Links Charms .” While she is hardly a candidate to captain her local chapter of the Voluntary Simplicity movement, it is an attractive point of view and, along with about 275 photos, lends her book considerable charm. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.