The Krupp Diamond

  On May 16, 1968, the Krupp Diamond sold at Sotheby’s in New York. The diamond is a step cut, also known as an Asher cut. The previous owner was Harry Winston; Richard Burton, whom she was married to at the time, bought it for Elizabeth Taylor. He paid $305,000 for the diamond, the highest price paid for a diamond ring at an auction at the time. The Krupp Diamond weighs thirty-three point nineteen carats. It is part of the late Vera Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach’s collection, a member of one of the German munitions family that helped kill many Jews. Taylor wears the ring featuring the Krupp Diamond in every film she has starred in since she bought the diamond; she also wears it almost every day. The diamond consumes most of the space from her knuckle to the next join on her finger. When Taylor guest-starred on the The Simpsons, the ring featuring the Krupp Diamond was also animated; the diamond’s facets were reflected and blinking in Taylor’s eye. The Krupp Diamond, among many of Taylor’s diamonds, is featured in her book entitled Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry. The diamond was one of thirty of Taylor’s diamonds featured at an exhibit at Christie’s; according to the head of Christie’s jewelry department, Simon Teakle, it was very a complicated task to persuade her to include the Krupp in the exhibit.