If we were to go back to 1968 and visit the London Dorchester Hotel, we might find Ward Landrigan knocking on the door of the penthouse suite. Ward, still in his 20’s, works at Sotheby’s auction house in New York as head of jewellery. He is at the hotel because the occupants of the penthouse suite have purchased the previous day the famous 33.19 carat Asscher-cut Krupp diamond. The winning bid was $305,000. The buyer called and requested the stone to be delivered immediately from New York to London. The door of the suite is opened by actor Richard Burton. After confirming that Ward has the diamond, Richard asks for the box and calls over his shoulder, “Elizabeth, come here!”. Elizabeth Taylor-Burton rushes out from the bedroom and is handed the open box. “Oh shit!” she shouts, and tackles Richard to the floor, knocking over a side table with a lamp on it. Ward looks on from the doorway thinking “This is so Hollywood...”. After Elizabeth’s death, the diamond will sell at auction for $8.8 million, renamed the Elizabeth Taylor diamond.
Icon no 9: Elizabeth Taylor (part B)
Icon no 9: Elizabeth Taylor (part B)
Icon no 9: Elizabeth Taylor (part B)
If we were to go back to 1968 and visit the London Dorchester Hotel, we might find Ward Landrigan knocking on the door of the penthouse suite. Ward, still in his 20’s, works at Sotheby’s auction house in New York as head of jewellery. He is at the hotel because the occupants of the penthouse suite have purchased the previous day the famous 33.19 carat Asscher-cut Krupp diamond. The winning bid was $305,000. The buyer called and requested the stone to be delivered immediately from New York to London. The door of the suite is opened by actor Richard Burton. After confirming that Ward has the diamond, Richard asks for the box and calls over his shoulder, “Elizabeth, come here!”. Elizabeth Taylor-Burton rushes out from the bedroom and is handed the open box. “Oh shit!” she shouts, and tackles Richard to the floor, knocking over a side table with a lamp on it. Ward looks on from the doorway thinking “This is so Hollywood...”. After Elizabeth’s death, the diamond will sell at auction for $8.8 million, renamed the Elizabeth Taylor diamond.