The Krupp Diamond is a 33.19-carat Asscher-cut diamond first famous as the property of Vera Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, second wife of the German industrialist Alfried Krupp, and afterwards of the actress Elizabeth Taylor, who wore it for the last forty years of her life. Auctioned at Christie's in December 2011 as part of the Elizabeth Taylor estate sale, it sold for US$8,818,500 and was renamed by its purchaser, the Hong Kong-based jeweller Lawrence Graff, as the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond.

Description

The stone is a square Asscher cut weighing 33.19 carats, with measurements consistent with a stone of approximately 19.5 by 19.5 millimetres. It was graded by GIA as D colour, VS1 clarity, and Type IIa, placing it among the small subset of diamonds chemically free of nitrogen. The cutting style, with its characteristic stepped corners and high crown, dates the original cutting to the early twentieth century, when the Asscher firm of Amsterdam first popularised the proportions.

Provenance

The early history of the rough is not securely documented in the public literature, but the cutting style and Type IIa classification are consistent with a South African origin and an Asscher-period (post-1902) cut. Vera Krupp acquired the stone in 1959, set as the centre of a ring, and wore it during her residence at the Spring Mountain Ranch in Nevada. In 1959 the ranch was the subject of a notable armed robbery; the ring was stolen and recovered weeks later by the FBI. Krupp died in 1967, and the diamond came to public auction the following year.

Elizabeth Taylor purchased the stone in May 1968 for approximately US$305,000, with Richard Burton acting on her behalf. Taylor wore the stone almost continuously, in the same Krupp setting and on her right hand, for the remainder of her life. She remarked in interviews that the diamond was her favourite of her many famous jewels, and she retained it through the dispersal of much of her other jewellery.

The 2011 auction and renaming

Following Taylor's death in March 2011, Christie's auctioned her jewellery collection in New York on 13–14 December 2011, achieving a then-record total of US$115.9 million. The Krupp Diamond, listed in the catalogue as Lot 39 (The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond – A Ring), sold for US$8,818,500 to Robert Mouawad, who later sold it on. Lawrence Graff acquired it subsequently and renamed it the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond.

Significance

The Krupp Diamond is significant in three respects. As a Type IIa D-flawless-class Asscher cut, it is technically among the most desirable categories of historic diamond. As a stone with documented twentieth-century provenance running through both an iconic German industrial family and an iconic Hollywood owner, it carries unusual cultural weight. And as a benchmark auction lot, it contributed substantially to the broader phenomenon of celebrity provenance premium that has characterised major diamond sales since the 1990s.

Trade observations

The Krupp Diamond is also an instructive case study in the persistence of recut Asscher-style diamonds in the secondary market. The proportions Asscher-period cut diamonds were originally executed to differ from the modern square emerald cut, and modern recutting often increases brilliance at the cost of historical character. The Krupp stone has been retained in its original cut, and the transparent Type IIa material allows the older proportions to perform very well even by current standards.