Great Jewelry Collectors

What's it like to count the Duchess of Windsor (who also loved the House of Cartier) and Frank Sinatra as clients? If only we could ask Suzanne Belperron. Maybe best known for her 'stones imbedded in stones' designs, Belperron had a style all her own.

When you're the wife of one of America's best loved composers, it's expected you'll have a few pieces of lovely jewelry. But what happens when you're a wealthy woman in your own right? You buy your own amazing jewelry AND let your husband by you amazing jewelry. Linda Lee Porter did.

What's the easiest way to amass an amazing jewelry collection? Well, maybe not the easiest, but the quickest way is to marry one of the most wealthy men in the world. When money is no object, it appears like jewels just magically fall from the sky. Or Cartier. Just ask Gabriella Princess zu Leiningen.

She needs no introduction but just in case you're reading this fifty years after publication, we'll clue you in. Diana, Princess of Wales was an amazing woman who gone way too soon. A gentle soul who chose to hold hands with the sick and stand side by side with the poor, she had a jewelry collection that rivaled her true beauty. There are many pieces we could cover, but we'll hit what we think are the highlights here.

Once called the "Supreme goddess of Spanish language cinema," by the New York Times, Maria Felix was no doubt a super star. Maybe not here in the US, but in Mexico and in her adopted France, she was a mega star. And mega stars need? Mega jewels, of course.

Great Jewelry Collectors: Countess Albina Du Boisrouvray * Albina Du Boisrouvray is an anomaly. A woman from incredible means, who gave up a significant part of it, including some otherworldly jewels, to help those with nothing.