Taylor-Burton Diamond

The Taylor-Burton was a diamond purchased by actor Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor to celebrate her fortieth birthday in 1972. The diamond was 69.42 carats (13.88 g) and cut into a pear shape by jeweller Harry Winston. It was cut from a rough stone weighing 240.80 carats (48.160 g) found in the Premier mine in 1966 and subsequently bought by Harry Winston.

History

After the rough piece of 240.80 carats (48.160 g) had arrived in New York from the Premier Mine, Harry Winston and his cleaver, Pastor Colon Jr, studied it for six months. Markings were made, erased and redrawn to show where the stone should be cleaved. Then came the day appointed for the cleaving. In this instance the usual tension that surrounds such an operation was increased by the heat and the glare of the television lights that had been allowed into the workroom. After he had cleaved the stone, the 50-year-old cleaver said nothing--he reached across the workbench for the piece of diamond that had been separated and looked at it through horn-rimmed glasses for a fraction of a second before exclaiming "Beautiful!"

The stone's first owner after Harry Winston wasn't actually Elizabeth Taylor. In 1967 Winston sold the pear shape to Mrs. Harriet Annenberg Ames, the sister of Walter Annenberg, the American ambassador in London during the Richard Nixon administration. Two years later, she sent the diamond to Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York to be auctioned explaining her decision with this statement: "I found myself positively cringing and keeping my gloves on for fear it would have been seen, I have always been an extremely gregarious person and I did not enjoy that feeling. It sat in a bank vault for years. It seemed foolish to keep it if one could not use it. As things are in New York one could not possibly wear it publicly." One might argue the stone was too large to be worn in a ring, let alone in public.

The diamond was put up for auction on October 23rd, 1969, on the understanding that it could be named by the buyer. Before the sale speculation was prevailing as to who was going to bid for the gem, with the usual international names being kicked around by the columnists. Elizabeth Taylor was one name among them and she did indeed have a preview of the diamond when it was flown to Switzerland for her to have a look at, then back to New York City under precautions described as "unusual".

Where is it now?

In 1978, following her divorce from Richard Burton, Taylor announced she was putting the diamond up for sale and was planning to use part of the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswana. In June of the following year Henry Lambert, the New York jeweller, stated that he had bought the Taylor-Burton for nearly $5,000,000. By December he had sold the Taylor-Burton to its present owner, Robert Mouawad. Soon after his purchase, Mr. Mouawad had the stone slightly recut and it now weighs 68.09 carats (13.62 g). Before the recutting, the curved half of the stone's girdle had a very round outline, it is now a little more straight at that end. It also had a small culet, which was made even smaller after the recut.