As Christie’s has been selling almost everything Elizabeth Taylor had own in her life time ! The Cleopatra star had donated all the profits from the auctions (yeah there was about 6 different auctions ) to AMFAR , anyway during the auction of her Legendary jewels it showed that the writer of the book My Love Affair With Jewelry wasn’t the only one to have that kind of affairs , King Farouk of Egypt had the same affair but this time with every kind of collectibles, anyhow the king was connected to almost every jeweller in the world of course didn’t know that his collection would end up with totally different owners! and of course he didn’t know that one of his bracelets will end up on the wrist of Elizabeth Taylor !

the amazing art deco bracelet was described in Christie’s website as it’s from circa 1925 (the page isnt available anymore) which means that king Farouk was only 5 ! so maybe it was king Fuad’s and it was passed down to Farouk , or maybe Farouk just collected it from a jeweller ! anyhow after the coup in 1952 there were many auctions in Egypt to sell the jewelry , and all the belongings of the family to raise money , these auctions gave the people the idea that those military generals aren’t after luxurious life which i assume was the thing they wanted to tell the people in the first place , but of course it was too bad for the collections of the royals (and for us now ) because it made us lose some amazing and historic pieces of our legacy !
back on topic about the bracelet Richard Burton purchased it from Harry Winston the American jeweller who was one of the Egyptian Palace’s jewellers who sold king Farouk the Jonker Diamond in 1949 which he will travel with and sell few years later in exile , reportedly Harry sent his boy to the auctions to collect some pieces ( prices were cheaper that you can imagine in those auctions) !

I was watching the Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry Christie’s auction live and was fascinated by the pieces and the prices (that LA PEREGRINA necklace that was sold for over 12 millions !! ) ! they had an amazing zoom tool that made you able to see all the details of the lot ( yeah , i know it’;s too bad these pages aren’t available anymore :S ) anyway when i first saw that bracelet i thought of how unusual and somehow weird it is ! I know these are pharaonic motifs but they’re birds !!! and i know that last year or 2 years ago Cartier launched an Egyptian themed collection which had quite similar pieces but again i found them for people with special taste ! and the Cleopatra star for sure had a special taste ! but sadly I didn’t have much luck not only to get the bracelet from the auction ,( not that I was bidding , and not that i could bid to the estimated price $500,000–$700,000 ( i would faint if i saw that much money ) and not that it was sold for over $850,000) , but also because i couldn’t find any picture of her wearing it ! if it was a necklace it could be much easier to find !

anyway the magnificent bracelet is composed of six platinum-mounted pavé diamond plaques, and rubies, emeralds, and sapphires depicting an ox, sphinx, and falcon ! now that’s what a king would pay for ! I personally wonder when did king Farouk buy it ! and it makes me think , as he collect jewelry and made his own collection , did he let of his wives (he got married twice ) wear pieces from it!!
what do you think about the bracelet ??