The Taylor-Burton diamond gets it's name from the
renowned Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor and her former equally renowned
husband and actor Richard Burton.
Burton lavished extravagant jewelry on Liz throughout
their relationship, one of which was this extraordinary colorless diamond,
which he purchased in 1969, and not being named previously, was given the
rare privilege of naming it after him and his beloved wife.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The diamond is a 69.68-carat pear-shaped, G-color,
colorless stone with a clarity grade of VS-2. The current
estimated value of the stone is $ 3.5 million.
Early history
The diamond was cut from a 240.80-carat rough stone
discovered in the De Beers Premier diamond mine, in Transvaal, South
Africa in 1966. The rough stone was purchased by Harry Winston Inc. of New
York.
After the arrival of the stone in New York, Harry Winston
and his cleaver, Pastor Colon Jr. made an exhaustive study of the stone,
both internally and externally, that lasted about six months. The prolonged
exercise was aimed at determining the exact cleavage plane, along which the
diamond could be cleaved, in order to get two pieces, that could be
subsequently cut and polished into the ideal products, with the minimum of
flaws and inclusions. Having decided on the cleavage plane, markings were
made to indicate the same. Finally, on the appointed day and time, under the
glare of television lights, and amidst the usual tension associated with
such a delicate operation, the stone was cleaved into two, a smaller piece
of 78 carats and a larger one of 162 carats. According to the projections
the 78-carat piece was expected to be transformed into a finished
diamond of about 24 carats, and the 162-carat piece would have metamorphosed
into a pear-shaped stone of around 75 carats. The faceting and polishing of
each of the pieces then began in earnest, and the 162-carat rough was
eventually transformed into the 69.68-carat, pear-shaped, flawless, and
colorless diamond.
In 1967, Harry Winston Inc. sold the diamond to Mrs.
Harriet Annenberg Ames, the sister of Walter Annenberg, former ambassador of
the United States of America in the United Kingdom, during the tenure of
Richard Nixon as President. But, Mrs. Harriet did not enjoy owning the
diamond for long. Whenever she wore the ring in which the diamond was set,
she was overcome by a fear, that someone would detect the diamond, and
attempt to snatch it away from her, given the enormous value of the stone.
She was tended to keep her gloves on always for fear of exposing the
diamond. She said that being an extremely sociable individual, she did not
enjoy that feeling. Therefore she decided to keep the diamond in a vault,
and finally made up her mind to dispose of it, as it seemed foolish to keep
it, if she could not use it freely. Thus two years after she purchased the
stone, she sent it to Park-Bernet Galleries in New York to be auctioned on
her behalf.
The diamond was put up for auction on 23rd October, 1969,
with the provision that whoever buys the stone, would have the privilege of
using his or her name to christen it .Before the actual sale, speculation
was rife in the media as to who would bid for the stone. Several
international names were mentioned, including that of Elizabeth Taylor and
her husband Richard Burton. In fact the diamond was flown from New York to
Switzerland and back under tight security precautions, in order to enable
the celebrated couple to have a preview of the diamond.
The auction house was packed with all the well known
figures in the international gem and jewelry trade or their representatives.
The bidding began with the initial figure of $200,000 announced by the
auctioneer. The bidding process was competitive, and the price of the
diamond steadily increased until it reached $500,000. Subsequently the bids
increased by $10,000 each time until the price of $650,000 was reached, when
only two bidders still showed any interest. They were Al Yugler,
representing Richard Burton, and Robert Kennan, the chairman of the Board of
Kenmore Corporation, the owners of Cartier Inc. When the bidding reached
$1,000,000 Al Yugler dropped out and the auctioneer brought down the hammer
in favor of Robert Kenmore, for the record price of $1,050,000. After the
successful bid Kenmore named the diamond "Cartier." The previous record for
a jewel was set in 1957, when a diamond necklace from the Rovensky estate
was sold for $305,000.
It is interesting to note that besides Richard Burton,
there was another famous under bidder at the sale. This was none other than
Harry Winston who was the original owner of the diamond. Burton, in spite of
loosing out at the competitive auction, did not loose hope , and was
determined to acquire the diamond at any cost in order to lavish it on his
loving wife. Therefore he opened direct negotiations with the agents of
Cartier. and eventually Robert Kenmore agreed to sell the diamond to the
Burtons for a price of $1,100,000 on the condition that Cartier was
allowed to display it in New York and Chicago. Cartier's made a profit of
$50,000 on this transaction, and they agreed the diamond to be renamed
Taylor-Burton.
At the exhibition of the diamond in New York, it was
reported that more than 6,000 people a day flocked to review the
million-dollar diamond. The original setting of the diamond was a ring, but
Elizabeth thought it was too big and had it re-set in a necklace designed by
cartier, featuring a number of smaller pear-shaped diamonds. The necklace
was flown from New York to Nice, in the company of two armed guards hired by
Cartier and Burton. Elizabeth Taylor wore the Taylor-Burton in public for
the first time when she attended Princess Grace's 40th birthday party in
Monaco, and she often wore it with the ring bearing the Krupp diamond. In
the year 1970 she wore both the Taylor-Burton and the Krupp diamond for the
annual Academy Awards ceremony.
Later history
The relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard
Burton was characterized as a fire-and-ice relationship, which began on the
sets of Cleopatra in 1961, while both of them were married to others at the
time. The passionate and intense love between the two actors was clearly
evident to all those who worked on the movie sets. Eventually, Burton
divorced his wife Sybil Williams and Taylor divorced her husband Eddie
Fisher. The two of them finally got married in 1964. Even though their
marriage did not go down well with their fans, and sent sensational shock
waves around the world, the intensity of the love between them was
undeniable.
As a devoted husband, who was passionately in love with
his wife, Burton lavished extraordinary jewelry on Liz, throughout their
relationship. Burton's attachment to his wife was so intense that at
one time he said, "I cannot see life without Elizabeth. She is my
everything-my breath, my blood, my mind and my imagination." Some of the
expensive jewelry which Burton presented to Liz include the following :-
(1) A Bulgari pendant set in platinum with an 18.61-carat
emerald surrounded by diamonds. This was the first piece of jewelry used by
By Burton to propose to Taylor.
(2) The 33.19-carat, Asscher-cut Krupp diamond set in a
platinum ring which Burton purchased for US $305,000 at a Sotheby's auction
in 1968.This had formerly been part of the estate of Vera Krupp, second wife
of the steel magnate Alfred Krupp. This is the only piece of jewelry she
wears constantly in her hand, and she seems to have a strong personal
attachment to the Krupp Diamond. She had been seen wearing it in a number of
her post-1968 films. She was also seen wearing it on CNN's Larry King LIVE
in 2003.
(3) The tear-shaped La Peregrina Pearl, which Burton
purchased for £ 15,000.The pearl was originally discovered by a slave in the
Gulf of Panama in 1500s and given to Spain's Prince Philip 11,who later
offered it as a wedding present to Queen Mary Tudor of England.
(4) But the most outstanding of all the gifs that Liz
Taylor received from Burton, was the 17th century heart-shaped Taj Mahal
diamond, given to her on her 40th birthday in 1972. The stone is fairly
large and flat, with an Arabic inscription on either side. It is set with
rubies and diamonds in a yellow gold necklace. This gift was indeed a symbol
of the affection and true love shown by Burton to his wife Liz Taylor, just
as much as the same stone given as a gift by Emperor Shah Jahaan to his
beloved second wife Mumtaz Mahal in the 17th century symbolized the true
love and affection of the emperor towards his beloved. The Taj Mahal that
Emperor Shah Jahaan built after Mumtaz Mahal built died in 1631,
immortalized their great relationship. "I would have liked to buy her the
Taj Mahal ," Burton remarked ,"but it would cost too much to transport. This
diamond has so many carats, it's almost a Turnip." then he added
"Diamonds are an investment. When people no longer want to se Liz nd I
on the screen ,then we can sell off a few baubles."
Sadly the relationship between Burton and Liz was short
lived, and lasted only for about 10 years. The couple divorced in 1974,but
reconciled an year later, and re-married in 1975. However the second marriage
too broke up in 1976.
Taylor and Burton appeared together in 10 films, and even
after their divorce, in the play " Private Lives," in 1983.
Burton died in Switzerland in 1984, and it is said that
up to this day Liz Taylor wears the 33.19-carat Krupp diamond given to her
by Burton as a symbol of his undying love for her. It appears that in spite
of their separation, Liz Taylor's love for Richard Burton has not waned, and
it is said that she has made plans for her ashes to be scattered in Burton's
homeland of Wales upon her death and cremation, If ever there was a couple
about whom it could be said, "they couldn't live with or without each
other." it may well have been Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
In October 2002, Christie's of New York organized
an exhibition of 30 personally selected pieces from Liz Taylor's renowned
personal collection of Jewelry to coincide with the release of her book,
"Elizabeth Taylor- My Love Affair With Jewelry."
The 33.19-carat Krupp diamond took pride of place out of
all the exhibits, and in her book Taylor says, "It was owned by Vera Krupp
of the famous German munitions family which helped knock off millions of
Jews. When it came up for auction in he late 1960s, I thought how nice it
would be if a nice Jewish girl like me were to own it ." Taylor
converted to Judaism, to marry her fourth husband Eddie Fisher.
Simon Teakle, the head of Christie's jewelry department
in New York, says , that due to her strong personal attachment to the Krupp
diamond, it was an extremely difficult task, persuading Taylor to
include the diamond among the exhibits. It is well known that she wears the
diamond set in a ring, constantly in her hand, and it was with the utmost
difficulty, that they eventually persuaded her to remove the ring out of her
hands for a few weeks.
Simon Teakle rates Taylor's collection of jewels as
extremely important and containing pieces, that could stand on an equal
footing, with any other collection in the world. "Burton had a wonderful eye
. A totally natural eye for quality items," Teakle said.
Burton's generosity towards his wife was boundless
and not limited to special birthday or Christmas gifts. "He'd give me, "Its
Tuesday I love you," presents, "It's a beautiful day," presents, "Lets go
for a walk, I want to buy you something," presents, etc." Taylor reveals in
her book.
The other highlights of the exhibition were the
tear-shaped La Peregrina Pearl, and the 17th century heart-shaped Taj Mahal
diamond.
The only piece of jewelry, bought by Taylor
herself, was a diamond brooch in the design of the Prince of Wales
insignia, that the actress purchased during an auction of jewelry ,belonging
to the late duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson.
Liz Taylor has disposed of some of her collections of
jewels, to raise funds for charitable purposes. At an auction held just
before the exhibition, at Christie's, she disposed of an emerald and diamond
ring given by Burton, for $ 80,000,and the proceeds were credited to
Taylor's favorite Aids Charity
Last transaction and
present owner of the diamond
In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor sold the Taylor-Burton diamond,
and donated the proceeds to help build a hospital in Botswana, South Africa.
"I have never thought of my jewelry as trophies," Taylor said, "I'm just
here to take care of them." Henry Lambert, the New York jeweler was reported
to have purchased the Taylor-Burton diamond, for a sum of $ 5,000,000.
In December 1979, Lambert had sold the stone to it's present owner Robert
Mouawad, who had the stone slightly re-cut to it's present weight of 68.07
carats. The Taylor-Burton is presently the 10th largest diamond in the rare
and magnificent collection of diamonds belonging to the Mouawad family
Chemistry of colorless
stones
Diamond is a crystalline form of Carbon, in which the
crystal unit consists of a carbon atom surrounded by four equidistant carbon
atoms at the four corners of a regular tetrahedron. All four valances of the
carbon atom are used up in this bonding. This crystal unit is repeated
indefinitely, resulting in the formation of a giant molecule. Diamond
crystallizes in the Isometric crystal system forming cubic or octahedral
crystal forms.
Diamond crystals without any impurities, and
structurally perfect, without any deformations are absolutely colorless.
But. such diamonds are rare consisting of only 1-2 %of all natural diamonds.
Almost 98 % of all natural diamonds contain trace amounts
of Nitrogen (less than 0.1 %) as impurity, which imparts a yellow color to
the diamonds. The yellow color can vary from a slight yellowish tint to an
intense yellow depending on the concentration and distribution of the
Nitrogen atoms.
If Nitrogen atoms are distributed as aggregates of 2
atoms or 4 atoms the color of the diamond is not affected, as these
aggregates do no absorb visible light. But, if Nitrogen atoms are scattered
as single atoms or as aggregates of 3 atoms, which absorb light in the blue
end of the spectrum, it imparts a pale to intense yellow color to the
diamonds.
Thus colorless diamonds can be either absolutely
colorless in the absence of Nitrogen impurities or the can be
colorless with Nitrogen atoms present as aggregates of even numbers such as
2 or 4 atoms.
