Antique, Vintage and Estate Fine Jewelry
When you’re the wife of one of America’s best loved composers, it’s expected you’ll have a few pieces of lovely jewelry. But what happens when you’re a wealthy woman in your own right? You buy your own amazing jewelry AND let your husband by you amazing jewelry. Linda Lee Porter did.
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They say you don’t get to choose love. It chooses you. And apparently, one doesn’t have much choice on where it strikes either. I guess rehab is as good a place as anywhere else. I bet if you were able to ask Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky they’d agree.
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If you have been following along on Wednesdays, I’ve been covering all eight of Elizabeth Taylor’s weddings. And some of her jewelry. She was quite the collector and one of these Fridays, I’ll discuss her collection in detail. But today, we’ll talk about a woman, Marjorie Merriweather Post, who’s jewelry collection put Liz’s to shame.
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“Liz Taylor settles for a simpler life with the county farmer.” So read the headlines (or something similar) in December of 1976 when Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner tied the knot.
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While this over-the-top tiara is listed in as a Royal British Tiaras by us today, it wasn’t truly worn by royalty. Aristocrats and nobility? Yes. Royalty? Nah. But when you have a tiara as stunning as The Portland Sapphire Tiara to talk about, who wants to get caught up in the little details?
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Marlene Dietrich came by her jewelry obsession honestly. The German-born actress’ mother came from a well-heeled family that had owned a jewelry store in Berlin’s Unter den Linden neighborhood – a very fashionable area. Marlene learned early on that jewelry purchased from the best retailers would not only hold its value, it would end up proving invaluable in her life.
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It was a love for the ages. Or so it seemed for a while. It was definitely one for the history books! When Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton got together, both were married to others. Liz to Eddie Fisher and Richard to Sybil Williams. But apparently theirs was a love not to be denied. And thank goodness because just wait until you see the jewelry.
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We’re getting down to the nitty gritty now and to some of the tiaras that haven’t been seen in decades and decades. Today, I’m just going to break your heart right out of the gate. This tiara exists no more. Sadly, the Ladies of England Tiara was broken up over 100 years ago and some of its diamonds used to create the Cambridge Lover’s Knot and the Honeysuckle Tiaras. But…. that won’t stop me from drooling over the photos of it.
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There are famous folks who want to remain in the shadows. I get that. What I don’t get are those that become ghosts. In trying to research today’s post, I looked high and low for information and images about American Socialite Hélène Beaumont but there was little to find. Thank goodness there’s a magnificent piece of jewelry being auctioned off by Sotheby’s in May, having once belonged to her, or she may have slipped into obscurity for most of us commoners.
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Depending on your age, the Vanderbilt you most associate with the name may be different. But I bet that if it’s not Anderson Cooper, it may be his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, that comes to mind. And if you’re of the age where you have millennials as grandkids, you may even remember the last of the gilded days, where the New York elite still had grand parties in their even more grand mansions. In that case, Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, one of the last (if not THE last) to host such gatherings, may just be the Vanderbilt in your mind’s eye.
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It’s slightly scandalous to be married four times. But when your fourth husband is your now deceased third husband’s best friend, who was married at the time you started your relationship with him….. well THAT’S scandalous. And so goes the marriage of Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher.
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Choices. It’s all about choices with this tiara. What’s that you say? You don’t like how the central element clashes with your red dress? Well, just swap it out, dear. Indeed, the Honeysuckle Tiara is one of the best kinds – it’s convertible!
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There are great jewelry collectors with fantastic pedigrees and great class. And then there was Mrs. George Washington Kavanaugh. Born Maria Magdalena Muller in Richmond, Virginia, she first married William Haberle, who was a brewery heir from Syracuse. Little is known about how she met Mr. Haberle or for how long they were married. But by all accounts, they didn’t lead a very glamorous life, instead living in a drab, typical upper middle class Queen Anne house on Prospect Avenue in Syracuse.
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The third time is a charm. That’s what they say, right? For Elizabeth Taylor, she thought she’d found true love with husband number three, Mike Todd. Fresh from marriage number two, she fell hard for the 47 year old Todd (she was only 24). He was also twice divorced. What drew Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd together? Was is the multiple marriages and an understanding of what happens when a marriage falls apart? Was it her beauty that drew his to her? Maybe it was the engagement ring that won her over (see it below). Maybe it was his larger than life personality. Sadly, we’ll never know.
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I’m back with the final chapter in my visit to London and Kensington Palace, where I got to see the three tiaras on display there, as part of the Victoria Revealed Exhibit. And I have to say, this is my favorite chapter. And favorite tiara of the three. In fact, one of my top three tiaras… ever. Yes. Ever. The Fife Tiara.
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The Gilded Age. It was a time of plenty but for many it was…. well, a time of PLENTY. There were haves and have nots. And then there were the have more than you can imagines. Mary Goelet came from a family in the last category. One of the wealthiest heiresses of the time, back when American heiresses were marrying British and Scottish nobility because they had everything else here in America but a title, Mary Goelet Innes-Ker was the cream of the crop.
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Love will find a way, as the saying goes. Even when that love is 20 years your senior. Or junior, depending on who your asking. Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding married at Caxton Hall in London on February 21, 1952. No matter that she had been divorced barely a year at that point (the same for him). No matter that he was also 20 years her senior. When it’s love, it’s love. Or so they say.
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Oh to have a husband that loves to dabble in amazing jewelry creations and then gift them to me. Alas, I do not have such a husband. Queen Victoria did, however, and good ol’ Albert created gorgeous pieces for her, including what we now call Queen Victoria’s Emerald Tiara, to match some other amazing emerald jewels he’d made for her. Let’s discuss, shall we?
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Last week I introduced you to Gabriella Princess zu Leiningen, a woman who married well (twice) and had the jewelry collection to prove it. Her last husband, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, had been married before and was no stranger to bestowing lovely women with amazing jewels. So, today I want to introduce you to…. his first wife, Princess Salimah Aga Khan.
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Every wild story has a beginning. And an end. The history of Elizabeth Taylor’s husbands, all seven of them, is truly a wild story. One that started when she was merely 18 years old with a hotel financier (and Paris Hilton’s great uncle) named Conrad “Nicky” Hilton. Here’s their story.
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There are tiaras that are instantly recognizable (we’ve featured several that fit into that category). And then there are tiaras who’s style was so fashionable “everyone” had to have one. But then, that made it hard to distinguish one from one another. Such an unfortunate problem to have, right? And today’s #TiaraTuesday feature, The Fife Fringe Tiara, is one of the latter.
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What’s the easiest way to amass an amazing jewelry collection? Well, maybe not the easiest, but the quickest way is to marry one of the most wealthy men in the world. When money is no object, it appears like jewels just magically fall from the sky. Or Cartier. Just ask Gabriella Princess zu Leiningen. She married His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, 49th Imam of the Ismaili community, international entrepreneur and horse breeder, and also the founder of the Aga Khan Development Network. And then she divorced him. What happened next was the stuff of legends.
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