Diamonds fit for Kings, Queens

and Elizabeth Taylor.

Liz Taylor not only has an impressive list of ex-husbands; she's also right up there with royalty when it comes to owning diamonds.

Back in 1968 she bought the 33.10 carat Krupp diamond for $305,000.00 -- but the big one came the following year, thanks to Richard  Burton. It didn't come easily. When a magnificent 69.42 carat  pear-shape diamond  (found at the Premier Mine as part of a 240.8 carat blue-white piece of rough) came on the auction-block at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York, two bidders quickly left the field behind: Robert Kenmore, chairman of the Kenton Corp. -- which at the time owned the Cartier Operations in the U.S. --  and a representative of Richard Burton. 

In the end,  Kenmore won out with a bid of $1,050,000.

Not to be deterred, Burton then negotiated a private purchase of the stone for $1.1 million -- and Liz dazzled millions of her fans when she wore what became the Taylor-Burton diamond.

She decided to sell the stone in 1978.  After some on-again, off-again dealing, Liz made the sale for $2.8 million.