M agnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels: Part II will be open for bidding from 28 October – 11 November, offering a broad selection of jewelry dating from the 19th century through to the present day and featuring spectacular jewels from the world’s most renowned jewelry houses, such as Cartier, Sterlé, Hemmerle, René Boivin and Harry Winston.
For more than 50 years, the House of Graff has represented some of the world’s rarest gemstones. Charismatic and visionary founder Laurence Graff’s extraordinary success rests on his innate understanding of diamonds and his insistence on perfectly proportioned cuts, optimizing the brilliance, color and overall quality of every stone he handles.
In 1962, Elizabeth Taylor was in Rome filming the Cleopatra (1963). During a break in filming, she posed for a still while wearing – appropriately for her role– a gold-and-diamond coiled serpent Serpenti watch by Bulgari. While Bulgari had made a coiled stylized serpent jewelry watch in the late 40s, it was in the 60s, boosted by Taylor’s portrayal of Cleopatra, that the Serpenti rose to cult-style status. It became far more realistically snake-like, with its superbly articulated scale-like elements in textured gold, studded with gems or vibrantly enameled, with the watch case and dial hidden inside the serpent’s beautifully shaped head.
