They rifled the ranch house like they knew it well—stealing along with the ring about $700,000 in cash, a revolver, and a camera.With all diamonds recovered, Mrs. Krupp was able to rebuild her ring. VERA KRUPP Vera Krupp, 81, of Millstadt died Saturday, December 6, 2014. Alfried alone could set things right and bring Krupp back to life.Though the couple's parting appears as a mere blip in the history of Krupp, as described by the majority of its various biographers, it doesn't take a lot of guess work to realize that Vera was done, not only with Essen, but with Alfried Krupp.Apparently, Vera was an assertive woman with few inhibitions who was one of the only people who could make Alfried, generally a straight-faced man, smile {Burbank}. By 1956, we find Frau Krupp growing weary of life with her husband in Essen, Germany, where the average temperatures hover between 40 and 50 degrees (F) and the rain falls fairly steadily year-round. We soon added other suspects to our list and were able to piece together the movements of the thieves from city to city—follow their trial across this map below. The Krupp Diamond was mounted in a platinum Harry Winston band with two baguette diamonds set horizontally on the shoulders. And it was surrounded by two smaller baguette-shaped diamonds on either side.Krupp and her foreman eventually got free, but because the battery-powered ranch phone was dead, they had to drive to the Las Vegas airport to call authorities. Who could blame her?All that changed the evening of April 10, 1959, on her sprawling ranch about twenty-six miles southwest of Las Vegas. At some point during this time, Vera Krupp began wearing a 33.19-carat Asscher-cut diamond. Given her regular visits into town sporting diamonds and platinum, most prominently the Krupp Diamond, Vera appears to have lived more than comfortably after her marriage ended.The notorious Krupp steel works, which supplied Germany, and many other countries, with weapons and armor for nearly all the European wars of the 21st century, were in dire straits after the Nuremberg trials. The publicity events held at the House of Krupp were the talk of the town for several years {1}. By 1956, we find Frau Krupp growing weary of life with her husband in Essen, Germany, where the average temperatures hover between 40 and 50 degrees (F) and the rain falls fairly steadily year-round. Burbank writes that she eventually abandoned the "hideous, provincial, joyless city" of Essen in 1955, and purchased a ranch in Las Vegas, Nevada.Whether he wanted to contest the divorce or not, Alfried was unable to attend the hearing scheduled on American soil due to his convictions in 1948.
We quickly got involved, under the assumption (which later proved correct) that the stolen diamond would be transported across state lines.Hagenson, Reves, and several other accomplices were brought to trial in November 1959. Krupp loved the ring and wore it everywhere—always snug on her finger. The divorce was made final in January 1957, and a sum of ₤1,800,00 was requested immediately, followed by a request for annual alimony payments of ₤90,000 per year {1}.We've been following the legacy of Elizabeth Taylor's famous Krupp Diamond, now called the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond. In 1968 after her death, it was bought at the then record auction price of $305,000 by Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor. Not surprisingly, the large ring was worth a small fortune: about $275,000 in 1959, the year our story takes place.As diamond rings go, it was massive: the center blue-white stone weighed more than 33 carats and was roughly the size of a small marble. She married German industrialist Alfried Krupp, her fourth husband, in 1952. It was sold to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as part of the estate of Vera Krupp, second wife of Alfried Krupp. The robbers had done their homework. “I didn’t ask; she didn’t vouchsafe. Her beauty, ambition, and intriguing ways served Alfried well during high-powered business dinners {1} .The Krupp Diamond began its public journey on the finger of Vera Krupp sometime between 1952 and 1956. Burton purchased it at auction for a price of $307,000, and presented it to Taylor onboard their yacht while moored on the River Thames in London. An attractive woman named Vera Krupp, an American baroness of sorts who’d come into a ton of money when she married—and later divorced—a wealthy German industrialist.