The Cartier Diamond Part II

After Kenmore won the newly named 69.42ct #Cartierdiamond, Richard Burton, the underbidder, was furious. “I turned into a raving maniac,” he wrote. “Elizabeth [Taylor] was as sweet as only she could be and protested that it didn’t matter, that she didn’t mind if she didn’t have it, that there was much more in life than baubles... The inference was that she would make do. But not me! . . . I screamed at Aaron [Burton’s lawyer] that bugger Cartiers, I was going to get that diamond if it cost me my life or 2 million dollars whichever was the greater.”

Kenmore agreed to sell the diamond to Burton on one condition: before it was shipped to him and renamed, it would be displayed in #CartierNewYork as ‘The Cartier diamond.’ Burton, determined that his wife #LizTaylor should have it, agreed: "I wanted that diamond because it is incomparably lovely ... and it should be on the loveliest woman in the world. I would have had a fit if it went to Jackie Kennedy or Sophia Loren”.

In a brilliant publicity coup for Cartier, a large ad was published in The New York Times to announce the public viewing of the record-breaking diamond that had just been bought by the world-famous movie star couple, and thousands travelled to the 5th Ave mansion to see it every day (2nd/3rd images).

Soon after, the diamond was shipped to its new owners and Elizabeth found herself the owner of a rather large ring (5th image). It was duly renamed the #TaylorBurtonDiamond but the problem, #LizTaylor conceded, was that “even for me, it was too big” (“This diamond has so many carats it’s almost a turnip,” Burton quipped). So it was back to Cartier with a request to transform it into a necklace (worn here at the 1970 Oscars, and in 4th image at Princess Grace of Monaco's 40th birthday). After her divorce from Burton, Taylor sold the necklace for almost $3m and ploughed part of the proceeds back into Africa, where the diamond had originally been discovered (she funded the construction of a hospital in Botswana).