With eight marriages to seven men, Elizabeth Taylor was never concerned with living a life of restraint. Fitting then that the late beauty's possessions are fetching far more than expected at auction as profligate bidders clamor for a piece of her legacy. An auction of her jewelry at Christie's in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday brought in a record $137.2 million, far surpassing the predicted $30 million. Other items from Taylor's estate, including fashions and film scripts, are also being auctioned off this week. Here, a brief guide, by the numbers:
$137.2 million
Record amount that pieces of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry collection fetched at auction Tuesday and Wednesday. That makes it "the most valuable sale of jewelry in auction history," according to Christie's.
$115.9 million
Amount in jewelry sales on Tuesday night alone
80
Number of pieces from Taylor's jewelry collection auctioned off Tuesday. The remaining 189 went on Wednesday.
$30 million
Amount that experts predicted the jewelry auction would bring in. "They clearly underestimated the power that is Elizabeth Taylor," says Lindsay Mannering at The Stir.
$11.8 million
Amount for which a pearl, diamond, and ruby necklace known as "La Peregrina" was sold. It was a gift from husband Richard Burton to Taylor in 1969.
$2 million or $3 million
Pre-auction estimate of La Peregrina's value. Many items sold for ten times their estimated worth.
$37,000
Amount Richard Burton paid for the necklace
33.19
Number of carats in a diamond ring that sold for $8.8 million
$2.6 million
Amount the auction of Taylor's haute couture brought in Wednesday, about ten times the estimate
$362,500
Amount a silver-encrusted brocade Dior evening gown with matching bag fetched — over 70 times the items' estimated worth of $5000. "A protracted bidding war among several determined would-be buyers" drove the price way up.
$60,000
Amount that Michael Steinhardt, a collector of art and former hedge-fund manager, paid for a pair of Gucci rock crystal and gold ear pendants. "He is really the best husband in the world," his wife, Judy, said. "There's never a dull moment."
$8,000
Pre-auction estimate for the Burton wedding bands, the final lot in the jewelry auction
$1 million
Amount that the two eternity bands in gold and white gold with baguette- and single-cut diamonds ended up fetching
15
Number of minutes of "intense" bidding over those rings, the longest bidding war of the jewelry auction
11
Number of years Burton and Taylor were married. The two wed and divorced twice. They first tied the knot in 1964 and divorced in 1974. The next year, they remarried, only to divorce again in 1976.
Sources: About.com, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, The Stir
