Elizabeth Taylor's $11.8 million (£7.4 million) necklace was once eaten by her pet dog.
The world famous La Peregrina piece - a diamond and ruby rope with a 16th century pearl pendant - pulled in the massive amount at Christie's auction house in New York last week (ends18Dec11), and now a jewellery expert has revealed the item's interesting history.
Former head at Sotheby's Ward Landrigan, who sold the pearl to Taylor's then-partner Richard Burton in 1969, reveals, "Twenty minutes after she put it on, she lost it."
The incident happened in a hotel room in Las Vegas and Landrigan adds, "(Taylor) came back running, showing her cleavage and saying, 'Ward! I've lost the pearl!'
"The room had pink shag carpeting, and I was crawling past a settee when I saw one of (Taylor's) two Lhasa Apsos (dogs), and I heard the crunch. I said, 'Liz, I know where the pearl is'.
"She got the dog to spit it out. I was afraid it (had) cracked because pearls do."
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