Van Cleef & Arpel’s Lamar­tine Bracelet owned by Dame Eliz­a­beth Tay­lor. Set In Style Exhi­bi­tion at The Cooper Hewitt Museum

Just a few min­utes ago, I received notice of the sale that will take place in New York at Christie’s Rock­e­feller Cen­ter. Prior to the sale, there will be what the auc­tion house describes as a “ten-day museum-quality exhi­bi­tion of her jew­elry, fash­ion, acces­sories, dec­o­ra­tive arts and mem­o­ra­bilia.” The first evening of the jew­elry sale will begin Decem­ber 13, 2011 and con­tinue on the 14^th. The Lamar­tine Bracelet above is just one of the many uber splen­did pieces in her vast col­lec­tion that will go on the auc­tion block. Yes­ter­day I was a guest of Van Cleef & Arpels at the Cooper Hewitt Museum where I was given a pri­vate tour of Set In Style: The Jew­elry of Van Cleef & Arpels. The bracelet above, together with its coor­di­nat­ing and equally expres­sive pen­dant drop ear­rings, were on dis­play. It wasn’t dif­fi­cult to envi­sion the famed actress and activist wear­ing these incred­i­ble pieces — the vio­let of the amethyst spar­ring with her eyes must have worked to great effect and undoubt­edly mes­mer­ized Richard Bur­ton, who pur­chased the set for her from Van Cleef & Arpels. The unusual color com­bi­na­tion of amethyst, angel skin coral, and white dia­monds (which is a lit­tle dif­fi­cult to see in this image) is very beau­ti­ful and unique, but then again, so was Dame Eliz­a­beth Taylor.