Light on Harry Winston
Harry Winston was an American jeweller. Harry Winston’s jewelry empire began with his acquisition of Arabella Huntington’s famed jewelry collection. Wife of railroad magnate Henry Huntington, Arabella amassed one of the world’s most prestigious collections of jewelry, largely from Parisian jewelers such as Cartier. Much of the Harry Winston collection was stored in secured vaults in the basement of the World Trade Center in New York. It is unclear what happened to these items following their collapse after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. With so many jewelers in Beverly Hills, it’s difficult to single out a single favorite of the Hollywood set, but the ‘House of Winston’ has managed to guarantee itself an extra shot of Tinseltown publicity by providing many of the glittering diamonds that adorn the stars on Oscar Night - for free. When you see an actress at the Academy Awards dripping in jewels, chances are good that they are on loan from Harry Winston. Each year, the Rodeo Drive jeweler lends celebs over $200 million worth of glittering diamonds, rubies and other precious stones to wear to the Oscar ceremonies. He’s been doing this since 1943, when he outfitted Jennifer Jones with her Oscar gems.
- Harry once loaned Elizabeth Taylor $3 million worth of jewelry for that single night.
- Winston loaned Sharon Stone a $400,000 necklace to wear to the Oscars, she claimed it was a gift and didn’t want to return it.
- When TV’s “The Bachelorette†picked out her engagement ring, it was at Harry Winston.
- Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Constantina movie “Cinderella,†Harry Winston supplied the jewels, including a 70-carat diamond ring valued at $9 million and a necklace worth $2.5 million. Winston sent three armed guards to the movie’s L.A. set each day.
- When Ben Affleck bought Jennifer Lopez a huge, pink diamond engagement ring, he bought it at Harry Winston - for over a million dollars.
- In 1974, he arranged the largest individual sale of diamonds ever, with an astonishing price of $24,500,000.
You can buy them less than $99 at: http://www.overstockjeweler.com/harry-winston.htmlHarry Winston
1 comment September 7th, 2006