Kim Kardashian plucks Elizabeth Taylor’s $12.7M emerald necklace from the vault
Law Roach just out-did Kim Kardashian.
Kicking off her “All’s Fair” press tour in Rome, Kardashian’s new stylist hooked her up with the “best birthday present ever,” letting the reality star play starlet for the day and play in Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry box.
Closing down the Bulgari store in Rome on Friday morning, Kardashian was presented with part of Elizabeth Taylor’s suite of emerald and diamond jewelry.
“Law really pulled some strings,” Kardashian joked — although, it was the truth. “You did it. I don’t’ know how you did this,” she said as she FaceTimed her stylist.
“This is unprecedented,” Roach explained. “Nobody’s ever done this before.”
Declaring, “I would sleep in this every night,” Kardashian was besotted with the moment.
Kardashian was given a pair of similar earrings to try on with the necklace, though they were not the exact ones owned by Taylor. She was not, though, presented with the original matching earrings, ring or bracelet on this particular occasion.
“This is not something we regularly do,” the Bulgari team explained as Kardashian stood wide-eyed in front of the tray of emeralds and diamonds.
The jewelry suite is one of the most well-known in recent history.
Taylor’s husband, Richard Burton, gifted the pendant to Taylor for her 30th birthday in 1962. The design features a 23.46-carat rectangular-cut Columbian emerald surrounded by pear-shaped diamonds.
Following shortly thereafter in the same year, Burton added the ring, though it wasn’t part of the suite Kardashian marveled at.
The impressive emerald and diamond necklace came third, as a wedding gift in 1964, from which the initial pendant could be attached and detached at her whim. It features 16 graduated step-cut octagonal and square-cut Columbian emeralds that total almost 61 carats. The emerald line-up is surrounded by marquise-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, all set in platinum.
Post-nuptials, Burton gifted Taylor with the earrings, which are each made of a pear-shaped Columbian emerald, surrounded by graduated round-cut diamonds and suspended from a pear-shaped diamond cluster stud.
And, while Bulgari didn’t pull it out from the archives this time around, the suite was rounded out in 1967 when Burton gifted Taylor a bracelet that was crafted of rectangular and square-cut Columbian emeralds, interspersed by rectangular-cut diamonds and trimmed in round and marquise-cut diamonds for added sparkle.
The entire suite was sold at auction (and purchased by Bulgari to return to their own archives) during a Christie’s sale in December 2011. The necklace alone sold for $6,130,500, with an additional $6,578,500 for the pendant brooch.
The earrings were sold for a cool $3,218,500, while the ring added $3,330,500 and the bracelet a whopping $4,002,500 to the suite’s grand total of $23,260,500.
“I was lucky enough to have a phone conversation with her about this piece,” Kardashian shared in an Instagram post recapping the outing.
Continuing, “When she passed away, I was brought into her home and shown her safe with all of her jewelry before they cleared it out. So I was able to see everything in her home and her jewelry still in her safe and all of her stuff still … her furniture … I was able to go in there like right after she passed.”
“I know that sounds insane,” she acknowledged.
Taylor died in 2011 at age 79 and Kardashian, who has long been a fan and admirer, released a documentary about the “Cleopatra” star called “Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar” in October 2025.
The Skims founder, meanwhile, recently celebrated her 46th birthday, declaring she can “start [her] year with this Elizabeth energy,” calling it “unapologetic personality.”
She added that Taylor was not only her inspiration when it comes to sparkle and glam, but also humanitarian work.
“She really, I think, was inspirational for me in fining my drive to want to help people that are in prison and prison reform work,” she shared of her muse.
“I just got a little jolt of her energy,” Kardashian said as she was getting ready to leave, adding, “so I’ll see you in a year when I need a little re-up.”