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December 14, 2011, 11:00 am
Elizabeth Taylor’s Collection Breaks Records at Christie’s
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
Richard Drew/Associated Press
Elizabeth Taylor’s “La Peregrina” sold for $11.8 million.Elizabeth Taylor’s stardust lent a profitable glow to the first night of Christie’s auction of the movie star’s extensive collection of jewelry and clothing. The sale of Taylor’s “Legendary Jewels” grossed just under $116 million, more than doubling the previous record for a private jewel collection sold at auction. The jewels of the Duchess of Windsor garnered about $50 million in 1987.
Many of the 80 lots sold on Tuesday night went for as much as – or more than — 10 times the catalog estimates, which were based primarily on the value of the gems themselves. The first lot, a charm bracelet estimated at $25,000-$35,000, sold for $326,500, setting the giddy tone for the evening sale, which lasted more than four hours.
The famous pear-shaped “La Peregrina” pearl, with its ruby, diamond and pearl necklace by Cartier, sold for $11.8 million, a world record for a pearl jewel. Richard Burton purchased the pearl for Taylor in 1969 for $37,000. The “Elizabeth Taylor Diamond” ring, also a Burton-given bauble, fetched $8.8 million for its 33 carats, more than twice the high estimate of $3.5 million. It set a new price-per-carat record for a diamond.
Other gems of sentimental or storied value, such as the three small diamond rings given to Taylor for winning Ping-Pong games against Burton, fetched prices far beyond their estimates, in this case $134,500 vs. an estimate of $5,000-$7,000.
Nor were the Burton-gifted jewels the only items to rack up staggering sums. The diamond-encrusted tiara given to Taylor by her husband Mike Todd sold for $4.2 million, more than 50 times its high estimate.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...tion-breaks-records-at-christies/#more-249543
Elizabeth Taylor’s Collection Breaks Records at Christie’s
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
Richard Drew/Associated Press
Elizabeth Taylor’s “La Peregrina” sold for $11.8 million.Elizabeth Taylor’s stardust lent a profitable glow to the first night of Christie’s auction of the movie star’s extensive collection of jewelry and clothing. The sale of Taylor’s “Legendary Jewels” grossed just under $116 million, more than doubling the previous record for a private jewel collection sold at auction. The jewels of the Duchess of Windsor garnered about $50 million in 1987.
Many of the 80 lots sold on Tuesday night went for as much as – or more than — 10 times the catalog estimates, which were based primarily on the value of the gems themselves. The first lot, a charm bracelet estimated at $25,000-$35,000, sold for $326,500, setting the giddy tone for the evening sale, which lasted more than four hours.
The famous pear-shaped “La Peregrina” pearl, with its ruby, diamond and pearl necklace by Cartier, sold for $11.8 million, a world record for a pearl jewel. Richard Burton purchased the pearl for Taylor in 1969 for $37,000. The “Elizabeth Taylor Diamond” ring, also a Burton-given bauble, fetched $8.8 million for its 33 carats, more than twice the high estimate of $3.5 million. It set a new price-per-carat record for a diamond.
Other gems of sentimental or storied value, such as the three small diamond rings given to Taylor for winning Ping-Pong games against Burton, fetched prices far beyond their estimates, in this case $134,500 vs. an estimate of $5,000-$7,000.
Nor were the Burton-gifted jewels the only items to rack up staggering sums. The diamond-encrusted tiara given to Taylor by her husband Mike Todd sold for $4.2 million, more than 50 times its high estimate.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...tion-breaks-records-at-christies/#more-249543
