Elizabeth Taylor Auction at Christies NYC

[foxy]

Starting today tickets are being sold (for $30) to view the jewelry, clothes and art collection at Christies http://www.christies.com of icon Elizabeth Taylor. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Just got my ticket. Should be quite a show and certainly helps a great cause. Thanks Liz!

[wayout]

Do you know if they are auctioning off and displaying the famous ring Richard Burton gave to her? If so, that alone is worth the price of admission to see (and of course the contribution to her AIDS foundation).

[BaronArtz]

I saw a preview of the show on one of the local cable channels here in NYC. The 38 (or was it 48) carat diamond solitaire is indeed displayed. The estimate is $2.5 million for the diamond alone, but with the Liz Taylor name attached to it .... who knows? The exhibition looked very well done.

[foxy]

I saw the Krupp diamond in person years ago when I met her briefly. It was almost bigger than she was. She was very casual about letting people try it on and would misplace it now and then. One time her butler found it and put it in her glass of vodka along with the ice cubes I believe.

[N13]

Her daughter Maria told me a story about the time she tried the ring on. She told her mother she could not get it off. Elizabeth said, "Than's ok dear. I have scissors!"

[N13]

sorry.... that's not than's

[+ Lucky]

Well, Huffington Post has pictures of Ryan Phillipe's house on its site, and you can see the very bed where he does it. Beats Liz any day!

 

But, if that's not enough, here's a Krupp story:

The actual diamond appeared on the Here's Lucy episode "Lucy Meets the Burtons" in 1970. Lucy Carter (played by Lucille Ball) found the ring and got it stuck on her finger. Lucy ends up having to substitute her own hand for Miss Taylor's at a press party held to show off the ring. This was the highest rated episode of the very popular series and earned an Emmy nomination for comedy writing. Lucy, the Burtons, and the ring appeared on the cover of the September 5, 1970 issue of TV Guide.

[+ WilliamM]

More on "Her's Lucy" with the Burtons. From "Richard Burton: A Life" (page 331): Burton's diary for May 1970: "I loathe her [Lucille Ball] today, but now I also pity her. After tonight I shall make a point of never seeing her again...There is a chance that I might have killed her...I said very loudly...that I was puzzled...as to why anybody who didn't have to for financial reasons, et al, would submit themself to this mindless routine week after week for 19 years. Miss Ball and her husband who were sitting beside me said nothing at all."

 

The author, Melvyn Bragg's explanation: "The head-on clash of two totally different methods of working.. Burton waited for his gift to materialize. Ball worked on her talent like an engineer...driving the machine of her shows through to performance whatever."

 

There's a lot more, but you get the general nature of Burton's anger.

 

Lucy though Burton liked her. She was supposed shocked, and deeply hurt when she read the book in the last year of her life.

 

Is the Krupp diamond the one that brings bad luck, and huge TV ratings to sit coms?

[foxy]

Here's another Liz diamond ring story. Liz had a ring made from the Taylor-Burton diamond which was 69 carats. She was at a party that Princess Margaret was attending. Liz overheard Margaret saying the ring was vulgar. Later on Princess Margaret asked to try it on. As she looked at it on her finger staring in amazement Liz said "Doesn't look so vulgar now does it?"

[+ Lucky]

Maybe it was funnier at the time:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsFaxeWnSz4

[+ Lucky]

One thing not being auctioned at Christie's:

Acc. to book Gossip, by Joseph Epstein, “Someone recently told me . . . that a gynecologist told him that when his patient Elizabeth Taylor came in for a minor surgical procedure she brought along security men to make sure that all her pubic hair, some of which needed to be shaved, would be swept up and properly disposed of, lest any of the nurses or orderlies on the job attempted to scoop it up and offer it for sale on eBay. This story feels mightily like gossip, yet I do not feel the least disloyalty in passing it along; instead I feel myself merely lapsing into wretched bad taste in retelling it. I also feel that, in the current age, it is probably a true story.”

[edjames]

Auction Website for The Elizabeth Taylor Collection

 

I have a ticket iew the collection on Thursday afternoon!

 

In the meantime the Christies website has a beautiful video featuring highlights of the collection:

 

http://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/special_features.aspx

 

 

ED

[+ WilliamM]

Lucky,

 

Much thanks for the "Here's Lucy" clip. I have forgotten that Elizabeth Taylor was such a brillant comic. For once, a show deserved its high rating because of how good Taylor was at the end.

[+ Lucky]

You are welcome, WilliamM. I am glad that you enjoyed it.

[foxy]

Saw the show today. It's incredible and huge. Hundreds of designer clothes, jewelry of course but also paintings and art objects. Spent over 2 hours and really enjoyed it. Sure it will sell out.

[wayout]

"Even in death, Elizabeth Taylor dazzles: an auction last night in Manhattan of 80 of her most spectacular pieces of jewelry brought in a record-breaking $116 million -- more than double the amount reached previously for a single collection."

 

A necklace brought in $10.5 million and the famous ring went for $8.8 million.

 

http://crabbygolightly.com/mt/2011/12/though_shalt_covet_thy_dead_ce.html