The Queen of Bling

Sadly, the undeniable queen of jewelry, Elizabeth Taylor, has been ill recently, so we wanted to take a moment to appreciate her. Taylor has one of the most important and interesting collections of jewelry in the world. As unstable as her life has been, her commitment to jewelry has been very steady. Pieces like the Asscher-cut, 33 carat Krupp Diamond, given to her by Richard Burton in 1968, are symbols of her status as one of the top collectors. About 10 years ago, she published an amazing book filled with photographs and stories about how she obtained some of her most memorable pieces.

One story she tells in her book takes place right after she began working with Richard Burton, the man who would eventually become her fifth husband. They had made a connection but promised not to see each other because they were both married to other people. Her marriage to Eddie Fisher was on the brink of collapse at that time, and she was alone on her thirtieth birthday, hoping to hear from Burton. A beautiful package arrived for her with a Bulgari canary diamond flower brooch and matching earrings (isn't that what you received on your 30th?). Of course she hoped it was from Burton, but it was from her husband. The whole day she waited for a message from Burton and it never came. A few months later, Fisher had moved out of the house, and their divorce was moving forward. When she received a bill from Fisher for those canary diamonds ... she paid it. That’s a lady committed to her jewels, isn’t it?

If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a great link to an interview in which she discusses her collection with Barbara Walters: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123840&page=1

The book we referenced earlier is called Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry, and we highly recommend it!

Our Vintage Cocktail Rings

Since we’ve asked you to share some of your favorite vintage pieces with us, we thought it only fitting that my sister and I show you ours.

As we said in our last blog entry, one of the strongest sources of our love for jewelry was our grandmother, Avis. She gathered an amazing collection, and now those pieces are some of our greatest inspiration for our own pieces.

When it came to jewelry, she always stood by the mantra “the bigger the better,” and she especially loved big and colorful cocktail rings. Both Moria and I are lucky enough to have inherited these rings from Avis.

My ring is a 14K yellow gold dome ring from the 1960s with two prong set garnets. I get so many compliments on this ring and I think it's because garnets look great with 14k yellow gold. Now it's more common to see pieces set in white gold or platinum but there are certain stones in my opinion that should always be in yellow gold and garnet is one of those stones.



Moria's ring is a very large emerald flower ring accented with small diamonds also from the 1960s. It's in need of a very big cleaning but emeralds are a bit more complex when it comes to that task because they can't be placed in an ultrasonic or steamed cleaned (easy way). The best method is a simple tooth brush and soapy water. Although it's dirty, it's incredibly striking and Moria loves to wear it every day --even when she's chasing her son or making dinner. Similarly, our grandmother felt her rings weren't just for special occasions. Avis loved wearing sets of jewelry so Moria also has her matching emerald earrings and necklace.

Show Us Your Vintage Jewelry, Win A $250 Shopping Spree

We absolutely love vintage jewelry. Some of our most popular items here at M. Flynn are based on antique pieces we found in our grandmother’s jewelry box. This month, we thought it would be fun to see what kinds of vintage treasures you guys have.

Send us a picture of your favorite vintage jewelry, along with any compelling stories about the history of your piece, who you inherited it from or where you purchased it, and you’ll be entered to win a $250 M. Flynn shopping spree. At the beginning of next month we’ll post the top entries on the blog and pick the most interesting piece.

To enter, send your picture and your story to giveaways@mflynnstudio.com before the end of February.

Red Carpet Baubles

It's award show season, which means that celebrities are getting dressed to the nines for lots of big, red carpet events. Obviously the most exciting part for my sister and I, is looking at all the amazing jewelry these stars are pairing with their gowns. We picked a few of our favorite pieces from the recent Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards to share with you guys.


Sarah Hyland paired a statement necklace made of diamonds and pearls with her nude-colored dress.


Halle Berry stacked lots of diamond bangles to glam up her black dress.


Eva Longoria embellished her plain black dress with two diamond brooches.


Rosario Dawson tops off her pale yellow dress with a set of big, bright turquoise earrings.


Tina Fey’s leaf-shaped earrings tie in with the leaf shapes on her dress.


Did you have any favorite pieces of your own? We'd love to hear about them!