Elizabeth Taylor Gets Brooch for $565,000 : Buying Romance--at 100 Times Value
GENEVA — The Duchess of Windsor’s jewels fetched up to 100 times their appraised value today as romantics, including Elizabeth Taylor, and gem dealers sought the glittering mementos of one of the century’s most famous love stories.
The two-day auction opened Thursday, with a record $30 million bid for 95 items, the most prized of the duchess’ collection. (Story, Page 5.) Today, 211 items were offered for the sale at a red-and-white tent on the banks of Lake Geneva.
Buyers from around the world flocked to Geneva or bid by telephone from New York. At least two lots went for more than 100 times their lowest appraised value in today’s bidding.
King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in December, 1936, to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, a twice-divorced American commoner. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and lived in Paris. The duke died in 1972 and the duchess died last year.
The highest-priced item among the first 25 sold today was a gold heart-shaped box with an aquamarine inlay, which was sold for $133,000 to an unidentified buyer in Geneva. That was 66 times its lowest estimated price.
Bidders From 24 Countries
Taylor joined bidders from 24 countries in the sale by Sotheby’s, which had estimated the auction would bring in $8 million.
Taylor, who was in Los Angeles, paid $565,000 Thursday for the Prince of Wales feathers brooch, a diamond clip bought in 1935 when the celebrated Windsor romance was still a closely guarded secret.
The actress and her former husband, the late actor Richard Burton, were friends of the duke and duchess and had admired the brooch for years, said Sotheby’s top jewel expert, John Block, at the end of the four-hour first session.
The opening night of the sale drew 1,950 people. Another 450 people watched the auction in New York via a satellite hookup.
$266,000 Cigarette Case
Thursday night, an 18-carat gold and gem-set cigarette case inscribed “David from Wallis Christmas 1935,†with an etched map tracing a joint holiday tour of Europe, sold for $266,000, almost 100 times its appraised value. The duke was known as David to his friends and family.
Mohammed Jabir, owner of a shop in Manhattan’s diamond district, said many buyers were paying not for the gems, but for the romance connected with them.
“(The buyers) are individuals who got carried away with the love story. People who made millions in the stock market,†Jabir said.
“You see this necklace?†he asked a reporter in New York. “I can get the exact same thing for one-tenth the price.â€
