Special Gem Supporters
Ruby Circle $5,000
Shortly after wrapping The Wizard of Oz in her ruby red slippers, Judy Garland and her beloved pooch, Mountain Scout, starred in the Beverly Hills Women's Club sponsored First Annual Beverly Hills Dog Show in 1939. A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers, worn by Judy Garland in the film sold at auction in 2024 for $32.5 million, making those sparkling ruby red slippers the most valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction. At the historic Sotheby's auction of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1996, her 1968 wedding gift from Aristotle Onassis, the Van Cleef & Arpels 76 carat ruby and diamond ear clips, sold for $360,000. According to gemstone historian Joanna Hardy: ‘Women with attitude and strength who ooze passion and are wildly independent" have long chosen or been given rubies. Ruby Circle Supporters reflect the traits associated with this gem stone: passion, vitality and leadership.
Emerald Circle $10,000
Beverly Hills local Elizabeth Taylor lived blocks from the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, at 703 North Elm Drive, with her parents from 1941 until her marriage to Conrad Hilton in 1950. She purchased 1771 Summitridge Drive with second husband Michael Wilding in 1952 where she raised her two sons. Her Bulgari emerald necklace, earrings, brooch and ring suite, gifted by Richard Burton, is the most famous modern emerald collection. The two met filming Cleopatra. Cleopatra herself was obsessed with emeralds and gave dignitaries emeralds carved with her likeness. Emerald Circle Supporters identify with the traits traditionally associated with emeralds: wisdom, clarity, truth and foresight. The color emerald green is a shade long associated with prosperity and hospitality, just like the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, since 1916.
Blue Sapphire Circle $25,000
Penélope Cruz received an antique 3-carat sapphire-and-diamond halo engagement ring from Javier Bardem before marrying in 2010, the same year they purchased a home in Beverly Hills. In 2018, Cruz launched her own jewelry collection with Atelier Swarovski Fine Jewelry, unveiled at Cannes. While raising her children in Beverly Hills, Victoria Beckham received a massive oval-cut sapphire ring worn on a thin pavé diamond band – described as giving "Titanic vibes”. Blue Sapphire Circle Supporters emphasize discipline, patience, responsibility and protection. All are characteristics associated with the gemstone in Vedic astrology.
Yellow Sapphire Circle $50,000
For 35 years, Lucille Désirée Ball, known worldwide as just Lucy, lived around the corner from the Beverly Hills Women’s Club at 1000 North Roxbury Drive. She bought the two-story colonial house in 1954 with Desi Arnaz, and they lived there during I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. After their 1960 divorce she kept the house, and she lived there through The Lucy Show (1962 to 1966) and Here's Lucy (1968 to 1974) until her death in 1989. In 2007 Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale offered 10 personal pieces from her estate, including a yellow sapphire and diamond suite by Van Cleef & Arpels — necklace, ear clips, and ring — which had an estimated value of $25,000 – $35,000 but sold for $82,600 with partial proceeds from the Collection benefiting The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, NY. Recognized by TIME as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for her work as an American comedian, actress, producer, and studio executive, Lucille Ball stands in a class all her own. Yellow Sapphire Circle Supporters share the same sunny disposition, sense of California optimism and perseverance.
Pink Sapphire Circle $100,000
Pink Sapphire Circle Supporters are rare and remarkable women. Pink sapphires are rarer than other color sapphires and associated with femininity, love, and purity, and in some Asian traditions likened to the lotus flower, a sacred symbol. The color pink is associated with warmth, kindness and sisterhood. All attributes a natural fit for the Beverly Hills Women’s Club. Jewelers Suzanne Kalan and Van Cleef & Arpels regularly use pink Madagascan sapphires in high-profile pieces. Pink sapphire's documented history traces back to the late 1500s, when Portuguese explorers reached Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) and encountered deposits of vivid pink crystals. Lady Gaga’s engagement ring from Christian Carino featured a pink sapphire surrounded by diamonds. On October 2, 2010, music legends Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono united at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles to stage a spectacular small venue concert on facing grand pianos. The Beverly Hills Women’s Club has a standing invitation for a repeat performance at the club, benefiting any charity of their choice. The BHWC’s historic 1935 Knabe Grand Piano and a Steinway, to be loaned for that special performance from The Los Angeles Philharmonic, will produce a majestic sound in the club’s gorgeous ballroom which features forty foot ceilings and fabulous acoustics.
Diamond Circle $250,000
Icon Gloria Swanson was an active member of the Beverly Hills Women’s Club and Chaired the club’s First Flower Show. In 1922, she was famously quoted; “I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment the star!” By the mid-1920’s she was Hollywood's highest-paid actress, reportedly making and spending over $8 million that decade. Her studio contract required her to wear the latest clothes and jewelry in public, at her own expense. Her annual jewelry budget was reportedly around $500,000 (equivalent to $10M+ today). Her rectangular-cut 5.1-carat diamond ring sold for $115,000 at Christie's Paris in 2011. She bought two diamond-and-rock-crystal bangle bracelets from Cartier in 1930, designed by Jeanne Toussaint, and wore them both onstage and off as a signature part of her look — including in Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Perfect Understanding (1932). They are now part of the Cartier Collection and have been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt. Throughout her career, the glorious Gloria Swanson earned three Academy award nominations. Like these gem stones, Diamond Circle Supporters are associated with strength, invincibility, endurance, permanence and purity. All qualities also associated with the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, since 1916.
Yellow Diamond Circle $500,000
The most famous yellow diamond in history, the Tiffany Yellow Diamond, was discovered in 1877. The rough stone weighed 287.42 carats and ultimately was cut down to 128.54 carats with 82 facets. It debuted publicly in the Tiffany flagship store window at 727 Fifth Avenue (now branded The Landmark and where that diamond continues to be displayed). It has only been worn publicly by four women, most famously by Audrey Hepburn in 1961 for publicity photos promoting Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audrey Hepburn was such a frequent visitor to the Barnett House in Beverly Hills, designed by “Hollywood’s society architect” Gerard Colcord, and just a stone’s throw from the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, that the homeowner converted the garage into a guest house for her. Marilyn Monroe wore the Moon of Baroda, a pear-shaped 24.04-carat yellow diamond dating to the 18th century, to the premiere of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Yellow as a color carries broad associations with warmth, confidence, cheerfulness, enthusiasm and friendship, all associated with the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, since 1916.
Pink Diamond Circle $1,000,000
Pink diamonds represent the most rare of diamonds. Their color comes from structural distortion within the diamond rather than trace elements, a genuine scientific rarity, not just a market one. Mariah Carey has lived near the Beverly Hills Women’s Club on Laurel Way and in nearby Coldwater Canyon and currently maintains a Beverly Hills residence for work purposes. She famously received a 17-carat pink diamond ring from Nick Cannon, reported with a value of $2.5 million. Jill Tavelman served as President of The Beverly Hills Women's Club 2011-2013. Both Jill and her daughter Lily Collins, who stars as Emily Cooper in Emily in Paris, have chairs bearing their names with plaques at the Beverly Hills Women’s Club, a chair plaque club tradition shared by many current and former members since 1970, when 200 of the club’s stately event chairs were purchased by the Beverly Hills Women’s Club. Lily Collins' engagement ring from Charlie McDowell is a rose-cut pink diamond Irene Neuwirth design. Lily Collins will portray Audrey Hepburn in a new film that goes behind-the-scenes of the 1961 romantic comedy that movie fans best associate with Audrey Hepburn, the classic, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Historically, the pink diamond is associated with femininity and compassion, but with the added weight of romance and rarity. Pink Diamond Circle Supporters are the rarest of rare philanthropists devoted to ensuring the longevity and prosperity of the Beverly Hills Women’s Club as a local “Davos”, devoted to women, in perpetuity, in the heart of Beverly Hills.
