The Krupp Diamond is a 33.19 carats (6.6 g) stone, last sold at Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 on May 16, 1968, for $305,000, to Welsh actor Richard Burton

Richard Burton

Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

. Burton gave the stone to English-American actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

, his wife at that time.

Description

The Krupp is an emerald cut, with length and width proportions which are closer to that of an Asscher cut. It also has a fairly large culet facet, indicating it was likely cut before the 1920s, when culet facets were being phased out.

History

The diamond is named for the Krupp

Krupp

The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...

 family of German industrialists, and it was sold as part of the estate of Vera Krupp (1909-1967), second wife of Alfried Krupp.

Elizabeth Taylor wore the Krupp Diamond as a ring, and called it her favorite piece. The Krupp Diamond and other famous pieces of jewelry in Taylor's collection became part of Taylor's image.

The actual diamond appeared on the Here's Lucy

Here's Lucy

Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

 episode "Lucy Meets the Burtons" in 1970. Lucy Carter (played by Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

) found the ring and got it stuck on her finger. Lucy ends up having to substitute her own hand for Miss Taylor's at a press party held to show off the ring. This was the highest rated episode of the very popular series and earned an Emmy nomination for comedy writing. Lucy, the Burtons, and the ring appeared on the cover of the September 5, 1970 issue of TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

.