Customer Reviews

Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry

5 star:		(32)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

A wonderful storybook about some enchanting jewels cared for by one of our finest leading Ladies. This is a book I've long dreamt to see, even before the press releases about "My Love Affair with Jewelry" commenced to appear last year. Seeing the real gems would be nearly impossible even though Elizabeth allows most anyone to try on her mobile museum acquisitions.

This book is a must for anyone who has an affection for our most sacred symbols of love and affection.

As a fine Jeweler, I love to pass on to my interested clients the rich folklore and captivating legends behind Elizabeth Taylor's jewels. I suppose there are enough stories for some of Dame Elizabeth Taylor's baubles to fill a historical text but this intoxicating tome is indeed a sharing tour of her incredible collection. You will certainly turn each page slowly, relishing the beauty, the dialogue, and certainly feeling very fulfilled when reaching the end many pages away.

As an added touch to this very historical, personal and jewelry box of a book Elizabeth kindly invites her readers to contribute to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, her most noble cause as our grandest leading Lady.

Elizabeth Taylor's MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH JEWELRY is one of the most sumptuous and beautifully-made books on the subject of fine jewelry. This is not only a great gift idea for the Elizabeth Taylor fan or for jewelry lovers, it is also a wonderful book to be pored over time and time again.

The quality of the photos is top-notch, many are full-page and in gloriously rich color. The book itself is quite large, so many photos of the individual pieces are enlarged to show the superb craftmanship and detail from the world's premier jewelers: Harry Winston, Bulgari, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Schlumberger (of Tiffany fame), and on and on.

The stories behind some of these world-famous gems are quite charming and have been told in countless biographies of Dame Elizabeth. My favorite has to be the story of the Cartier-Burton diamond, at the time of its purchase in 1968, the highest price paid at auction for a diamond. The flawless 69.42 carat pear-shaped diamond was even featured in the Guiness Book of Records for many years. The pictures featuring La Liz wearing it are breathtaking. There is another story that Liz and Richard Burton were visiting Lucille Ball on the set of The Lucy Show, as Liz was going to guest-star in an episode. Of course, the Cartier diamond was the talk of the world, so Lucy asked if she could try it on. Liz Taylor has always been more than glad to let friends try on her jewelry, so she obliged Lucy. Well, Lucy could not get it off and she literally panicked. They tried in vain to get the ring off and finally succeeded, with much giggling from everyone. It is the spirit with which Liz Taylor enjoys her jewelry that I find so endearing and fun.

Many of the pieces in her collection are of historical interest, like the Shah Jehan Diamond and the La Peregrina pearl. Liz even wore La Peregrina in a movie starring her husband Richard Burton. There are several movie stills showing her wearing it while in period costume.

This is a book to be enjoyed for many years!

This is an absolutely breaktaking book. It has 280 illustrations, 175 of them in color, and many of them from Elizabeth Taylor's personal collection. I cannot stress how vivid and gloriously they capture the beauty of Ms. Taylor and her jewelry. The wonderful stories that go along with many of the pieces portray Elizabeth as a witty, warm ... and yes, cunning woman. I've always been a huge fan of hers, but this book has made me even more so.
Although Ms. Taylor own magnificent pieces from some of the most famous jewelers of all time ... Cartier, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Jean Schlumberger (Tiffany & Co.) ... many of my favorite's were her historical pieces. Like the Duchess of Windsor's diamond brooch, the Taj Mahal diamond, La Peregrina, and a beautiful bracelet from the collection of King Farouk.
The book also has a wonderful index that describes almost every piece in the book, along with who bought it and where. Some of you may be surprised to find that although Richard Burton and Mike Todd sure knew how to spoil a girl, Ms. Taylor did buy a lot of her jewelry herself. I also read from one of the following reviews that Ms. Taylor did not say who or why she sold the 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton diamond. I can't tell you why she sold it, but the index says she sold it in 1978 to a jeweler named Lambert who in turn sold it to Mr. Robert Mouawad in December of 1979.
So, even if you don't particulary care for Elizabeth Taylor and her legendary love affair with jewels, this book leaves little or no doubt that Ms. Taylor is definitely one of the most beautiful women of all time and her jewels are some of the most fabulous.

This book is rich with photograph after photograph of the beautiful jewelry collection of the equally beautiful Elizabeth Taylor. Featured with the pictures of each piece are her stories or recollections that go along with it. There are pictures of the piece alone as well as pictures of Elizabeth wearing the pieces. I disagree with the reviewer who says that this is selfish book, as Elizabeth Taylor gives much of her time and money to charitable causes and each book includes a request for donations to her AIDS fund. Also, she held an auction of some of her pieces for charity in connection with the release of this book. So, this was not an entirely greedy endeavor for her. This book is a treasure as Elizabeth allows us a peek at her AMAZING collection. She is famous for letting people try on her jewelry and this is as close as some of us will ever come to that! Thank you, Elizabeth!!!

I found the idea of a star like Elizabeth Taylor sharing the personal history of her exquisite jewels a truly original idea. As for the person who was offended by the fact that she'd received all her jewellery as gifts from husbands and friends...what's the big deal? The woman has given away millions, she clearly *can* buy any jewel that catches her eye. And when your husband buys you jewellery, technically, he's only buying 50% since you own half of HIM anyway, you're really buying half of it yourself. Back to the book...I found some of the stories touching, some of them just made me smile. The photography is very nice. It's the kind of book you can sit down with at night and savour with a hot cup of coffee. My only complaint was that the text in the book wouldn't fill a chapter of a novel. Perhaps it's best that way, tho. The pictures do speak a thousand words.

Taylor's history on her jewels was an eye-opener for me. I never realized she was the rich, frankly. The stories of her shopping the globe's great jewellery shops was wonderful. What seems to permeate (sp?) the book, tho, is Taylor's gratefulness in being just the keeper of such fabulous rocks. She shows a love for her jewels and desire to share them with others. That fact alone makes the book a very pleasant experience. Recommened for the joy of jewellery; I liked it very much.

No one should expect this book to be deep or not vulgar in any way. It's a book about a beautiful woman and her jewels. What exactly do you expect? She's wealthy and adored by men and she is talking about jewelry. OF course there are going to be silly comments!

I loved this book for what it is. Pure eye candy and funny anecdotes and beautiful pictures of Liz. Don't pick this book up and expect anything else.

Marilyn Monroe sang "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" and Liz Taylor has them by the buckets-full. Realizing that the diamonds will be around long after she's gone, Liz cleverly states that she's only "borrowing" them for awhile. The jewelry is pictured actual size unless otherwise stated, giving an up-close and personal picture of, not only the jewelry but, the owner. Both Liz and the jewels are dazzlers.

Pictured here are the jewels given to Liz by her husbands, Michael Jackson, or purchased by her just because she wanted them in her collection. Liz gives the story behind where and how she obtained each piece and many of the stories are hilarious. For example, she tells about the time her dog ate the historically important "La Peregrina," a huge pearl with a royal history; Prince Philip II had given it to Mary Tudor as an engagement present. Fortunately, the pearl was rescued from the dog undamaged.

You'll really enjoy this book if you're the type who only has a few hours to spend in Washington DC and decide to use that precious time to visit the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History gem collection.

I didn't read this book. I bought it as a gift for my 87 year old grandmother. Someone had mentioned this book on another website and I came here to look it over.

I was impressed. The photographs I saw and the reviews were impressive. I knew she would love it. I bought it for her for Mother's Day.

She phoned me to tell me how much she LOVED it! I've never seen her go on and on about a book. I know if she didn't love the book she would have just said "Thank you sweetheart." But this was a different reaction. Her friends have seen the book on the table in the living room and tell her how much they love it. And how the photographs are superb.

I'm sure when I visit her I will spend hours looking at this book at her house. She told me that she spent hours and hours just sitting in the chair looking at all the great photos.

I recommend this book even if you are not very interested in Elizabeth Taylor. The jewelry designs are beautiful and the sizes of the stones are impressive. I bought this book for my mother because she is a fan of Elizabeth Taylor's, but I couldn't resist taking off the plastic cover and poring over the photos before I gave it away. I've heard a little bit about Liz's jewelry, but I had no idea what a collection she had! The book is large, the photos are beautiful, and the commentary is interesting but brief enough to make you want more. She casually mentions that she sold the huge Burton-Taylor diamond but doesn't say why or to whom. She claims that the men in her life bought her many of these amazing peices of jewelry to suprise her, and after seeing the pieces I'd love to know how she was able to inspire that kind of adoration.

While the photographs of Elizabeth Taylor's jewels are undoubtedly wonderful, I found it almost as interesting to take note of the hairstyles, clothing, and decor in the pictures of her wearing them. For example, there are a couple of pictures from the "Rat Pack" days of Las Vegas, with the appropriate celebrities included. There are several great pictures from the late 1950s and early 1960s, possibly the era when she was at her most beautiful. A picture of Elizabeth and husband Richard Burton crossing the Atlantic on the old "Queen Elizabeth" ocean liner in the mid-1960s shows her at dinner, dressed and bejewelled, listening to a whispered secret from a very young-looking Debbie Reynolds.

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, we see extravagant headdresses, filmy floral evening gowns, and Grecian draped white gowns being worn at lavish parties given by such luminaries as Princess Grace. By the 1980s, it's "Dynasty"-style big hair and padded shoulders all the way, with Malcom Forbes and his Capitalist Tools motorcycle club much in evidence. There's a picture from that era where she's a dead ringer for "Mommie Dearest", wearing a black turban with eyes shooting daggers at the camera. The last pictures in the book show the effects of her illness, when for some reason she decided to dye her hair blond (or was it a wig?), not her best color--but it did go beautifully with her pink gown and her coral jewelry.

Anyone interested in the history of design and costumes would enjoy this book, not just people interested in jewelry.