Famous Busby Berkeley Bracelet owned by Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was a famous Hollywood star of film and stage. Born in 1901 in Germany she became well known in Berlin for her film and stage shows which ultimately brought her to America. She became a US citizen in 1939 and continued her career into and throughout World War II. For the next 20 years after the war, she toured the world performing. In 1999, she was named one of the greatest female stars of all time.

She was also famous for wearing her own gorgeous jewelry in most of the films that she made. In addition, she wore mostly her own jewelry in professional photographs. Her jewelry collection was massive and had some of the best quality gemstones and diamonds in the world. She is considered to be one of the most photographed women in the world during her infamous career. She was known to make quite a fashion statement on screen and off screen and stage as well.

One of Marlene Dietrich's most well-known jewelry pieces is the famous Busby Berkeley Bracelet. It is a bold and gorgeous ruby and diamond bracelet that Marlene wore in the popular Alfred Hitchcock film called Stage Fright. The bracelet was named after the famous Hollywood director and choreographer although there is no documentation as to why. Marlene loved this bracelet and was photographed many times wearing this stunning piece but after the film, it remained in the vault and not worn often.

The bracelet was made by the famous jewelry designers Van Cleef & Arpels around 1937 and was sold by Sotherby's Auction House in New York in October 1992 after her death for around $990,000 (reportedly). The bracelet was estimated to sell for around $300,000 and was purchased by an unidentified bidder. The rest of Marlene's jewelry collections were sold in auction in 1997.

by Kaye Lefier, Contributing Editor at ChasingTreasure.com, online store specializing in wooden jewelry boxes and leather jewelry cases. Kaye is an avid Jewelry Collector and writes about Jewelry and Jewelry Trends.