![]() At a cost of just $2,800, Two years after Taylor and Burton divorced in 1976, the stone was auctioned off for $5 million and the funds from the sale were used to build a hospital in Botswana. Because she could rarely wear the real stone, Elizabeth had a replica made. Additionally, the Taylor Burton diamond had to be stored in a vault. The million dollar insurance policy by Lloyd’s of London stipulated that the Taylor Burton diamond could be worn just 30 days out of the year, and that Elizabeth had to be accompanied by armed guards when wearing it in public. The diamond was put on display for a week at Fifth Avenue Cartier drawing the attention of nearly 6,000 visitors. But there were terms around the sale: Cartier created a big publicity moment with the diamond and Hollywood’s most high-profile couple. “ The next day, he contacted Cartier and purchased the diamond for a reportedly $1.1 million. ![]() For 24 hours the agony persisted and in the end I won. But not me! I screamed at Aaron that bugger Cartiers, I was going to get that diamond if it cost me my life or 2 million dollars, whichever was the greater. ![]() The inference was that she would make do. Elizabeth was as sweet as only she could be and protested that it didn’t matter, that she didn’t mind if she didn’t have it, that there was more in life than baubles, that she would manage with what she had. He later wrote of his response in his diary, stating that “I turned into a raving maniac and insisted that he (lawyer Jim Benton) get Aaron on the phone as soon as possible. “Taylor-Burton Diamond” When it went up for auction in 1969, Richard Burton bid $1,000,000. Elizabeth Taylor’s 69.42-carat pear-shape diamond.
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