There is always a touch of sadness when one is off to see the sale of a persons treasured collections isn’t there? No matter how famous they were, they are now gone and here we are nosing through their clothes and furniture and handbags. I never could imagine the day would happen when I would be ogling at Elizabeth Taylor’s collections. As sick as she was for so long she was never going to die. She was supposed to live forever! She was my grandmother’s idol. She collected National Velvet dolls and would be glued to the TV anytime something about La Liz was on. But today they are both gone and here I am furiously searching for tickets online to make it into the Christies showroom to see the objects of a life wildly lived. 

It was worth it. The lines were horrendous and most of the people ghastly (she looks like an A-Rab in that dress! I overheard). One man did stand out. An Oleg Cassini sort of fella with blue blazer, ascot, cane and slicked back longish salt and pepper hair. I noticed he was smoking a pipe while gazing at the caftans but no smoke was being emitted. On closer inspection I realized it was attached to his oxygen tank beside him. I swoon.

The jewelry was so hyped I was stunned to see so many clothes. And bravo to Christie’s for doing such a bang up visual job. One entire wall of women in identical poses were swathed in caftans from YSL to ethnic vintage pieces. Two that were rather spectacular were the ones from her epic film, Cleopatra. The Tiziani Kimono from BOOM! wasn’t bad either.

I learned so much about Taylor’s life as I read about each of the pieces of clothing. I had forgotten about the Versace beaded jacket she wore for a Freddie Mercury benefit and I had no idea her second marriage to Richard Burton took place in Botswana. With all the outrageous clothing and jewelry on view it was charming to see a small book that was written and illustrated by Taylor as a young girl called ‘Nibbles and Me.’ There was also an astounding collection of charm bracelets. One that stood out was one the Hollywood costume designer, Edith Head, gave her of ivory disks that were used as tickets to the theater in London in the 1800’s. 

The jewelry was of course the star. As Warhol once said, “It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor’s finger.” Again we learn so much about her. Michael Jackson spent loads of money on Taylor giving her one rather ghastly necklace of monkeys and bananas. Richard Burton of course gave the most spectacular pieces including the now named Elizabeth Taylor diamond (which she wore every day) as well as the Taj Mahal Diamond from 1627 and the Peregrina pearl, the most famous pearl in the world. 

The sale is tomorrow and everyone is eager to hear who buys what. It is fascinating how many items in the sale Taylor received as gifts from lovers and admirers. As a girlfriend of mine sighed, “I really should have made that clear early on in my dating days, jewels only please.”