Elizabeth Taylor’s Rubies
Image: MPTV
For Elizabeth Taylor, rubies were a stone symbolizing love and devotion. The two men she called the great loves of her life each gave her defining ruby jewels. Mike Todd chose a Cartier suite in 1957. Richard Burton chose a single Van Cleef & Arpels ring in 1968. Eleven years apart, both gifts arrived as surprises, and both became part of Elizabeth’s story, recounted in her book, My Love Affair with Jewelry.
In 1957, the newly married Todds were staying at a rented villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Elizabeth was pregnant with their daughter Liza, and while she was swimming laps, Mike approached the pool carrying three red Cartier boxes to surprise Elizabeth — a moment immortalized on home video. Inside was a ruby and diamond suite: a bib necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings, featuring oval and cushion-cut rubies that sit within round and baguette diamonds, all mounted in platinum.
Elizabeth described the scene in My Love Affair with Jewelry: “He was holding a red leather box, and inside was a ruby necklace, which glittered in the warm light. It was like the sun, lit up and made of red fire. First, Mike put it around my neck and smiled. Then he bent down and put matching earrings on me. Next came the bracelet. Since there was no mirror around, I had to look into the water. The jewelry was so glorious, rippling red on blue like a painting. I just shrieked with joy, put my arms around Mike’s neck, and pulled him into the pool after me.”
Elizabeth wore the suite in public for the first time in July of 1957 to the London premiere of Around the World in 80 Days. She paired her radiant new jewels with a ruby-red chiffon gown by Dior.
Tragically, Mike Todd died in a plane crash just 13 months after he and Elizabeth wed, marking one of the most dramatic and devastating losses of Elizabeth’s life. She cherished the ruby suite for the rest of her life, keeping the memory of Mike and his love close.
In 1964, Elizabeth married Richard Burton. Early in their marriage, Burton vowed to find Elizabeth the most beautiful ruby in the world. Red meant a great deal to him, as it was not only the color of love, but of his native Wales. He found the stone at Van Cleef & Arpels: the Puertas Ruby, an 8.24-carat Burmese gem with royal origins and a pigeon blood hue. From The Palace Hotel near the couple's Chalet Ariel in Gstaad, he arranged the purchase in secret, writing to Pierre Arpels in French.
In 1968, on Christmas Day, Richard’s plans came to fruition. As Elizabeth readied herself for dinner that night her daughter Liza burst into her dressing room, hiding a jewelry box that had been “left” at the bottom of Elizabeth’s stocking, a departure from the adults' usual lighthearted Christmas traditions. When Liza opened her hands to reveal the smallest of boxes, Elizabeth instinctively knew what was inside. Even for Elizabeth, who was a connoisseur of fine jewelry, the Puertas Ruby — a perfectly colored pigeon blood stone — surpassed all expectations. “I screamed, which probably echoed over the mountains, and I couldn’t stop screaming,” Elizabeth writes in My Love Affair with Jewelry.
Elizabeth considered herself the temporary custodian of her jewels, understanding she would not be their forever owner. After her death, Christie's auctioned her collection in December 2011. Prior to the big sale, highlights from her vast collection toured the world. The ruby pieces were always displayed together, with the Cartier suite shown beside the Van Cleef & Arpels ring everywhere from Moscow to Hong Kong.
Each piece far exceeded its auction estimate. The Cartier necklace sold for $3,778,500 against an estimate of $200,000–300,000. The earrings brought $782,500 and the bracelet $842,500. The Burton ring sold for $4,226,500, against a $1–1.5 million estimate, and set a world record for price per carat for a ruby.
Rare and intrinsically valuable as they were, Elizabeth’s rubies mattered most for who gave them to her and why. The Brilliant Earth × Elizabeth Taylor collection, created with House of Taylor, starts from the same belief: that jewelry holds a story, a feeling, and a meaning that goes beyond the piece itself. Inspired by Elizabeth, her love of jewelry, and her infinite glamour, Brilliant Earth’s pieces set lab-grown rubies alongside lab-grown diamonds in 14-karat yellow gold. Timeless designs that are sure to become personal treasures. Shop the rubies at Brilliant Earth.