Dame Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry company has been in bad shape for a while now but now that she and Kathy Ireland have terminated their licensing agreements with House of Taylor it looks like the company is officially over. The company is reportedly insolvent and the loan company is threatening to take possession of all inventory. Both Ireland and Taylor were major shareholders in the company along with Jack Abramov, the former chairman, president, and chief executive officer, and Monty Abramov, former secretary and vice president, both of whom resigned from their positions in April.

In May the company was delisted from Nasdaq and it will be forced to lose the Taylor name. Also, Lyle M. Rose, House of Taylor president and chief executive officer, left the company when they did not pay his salary, but is still hoping for a severance payment of around $150,00. Five other employees were terminated at the same time. The business will likely be liquidated. The company was in business for over three years and did create some lovely pieces such as the "Daisy" necklace shown above.

Elizabeth Taylor may not have acted in a movie in a while but she still attracts attention wherever she goes. Diamond-loving Liz will be dazzling them in Beverly Hills this weekend when she makes an appearance on Saturday at Geary's on Beverly Drive to promote her jewelry line, House of Taylor. The appearance is billed as "Something wonderful is about to happen" and will be an opportunity for Taylor to present her holiday baubles. Plenty of celebrities do the legwork to promote their own lines but few have the star power of Elizabeth Taylor. Unfortunately, the news on Taylor's young company isn't entirely sparkly. House of Taylor Jewelry did secure additional financing in October but the Nasdaq traded stock (HOTJ) has fallen to under a dollar a share (last time I checked it was at $0.56) and has received formal Nasdaq notification for not being in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing. Hopefully, Taylor's appearance will help boost the company's bottom line.

[Thanks, fabjewels]

Auction house Christie's big contemporary art sale in New York isn't until November 13 but the art world is already buzzing about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's iconic Liz Taylor portraits will be on the auction block. The turquoise Liz was created in 1963 and is part of Warhol's celebrity portraits that also include Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. This work also has a celebrity owner. Actor Hugh Grant bought the painting six years ago for $3.5 million at Sotheby's in New York. He now could realize anywhere from $25 million to $35 million on his investment.

More beautiful pieces have come out of the House of Taylor Jewelry collection. Three couture jewelry pieces from the Elizabeth Collection inspired by Dame Elizabeth Taylor, will be featured in Christie's Magnificent Jewels
auction on April 25 in New York. The three Elizabeth Collection pieces include a four strand, diamond and golden pearl necklace estimated at $25,000-$35,000, a pair of diamond encrusted ear pendants with four large cultured golden pearls, set in 18 karat white gold and estimated to sell for $6,000-$8,000, and a double-strand ruby and diamond necklace, with a long ruby and diamond tassel designs set to sell for $180,000-$250,000. The ruby necklace is after the jump.

The latest designs from House of Taylor Jewelry, the company that features the designs of Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Kathy Ireland has displayed some new designs in advance of the Academy Awards. The Elizabeth Red Carpet Collection is composed of seven distinct jewelry suites including Masquerade, a diamond, ruby and blue sapphire necklace with matching chandelier earrings; the Moon and Stars Suite, a necklace with matching bracelet in diamonds and pearls and the piece shown here Daisy, a necklace set with yellow sapphires, emeralds and diamonds. We'll be looking to see if any Elizabeth jewels end up on the red carpet on Sunday.

A rose by any other name would still be a rose, but if you called it Elvis, you could certainly charge a lot more for it. Celebrity names and images have a lot of selling power because they provide instant recognizability; they are their own brands. Business Week determined the worth of the names of 13 celebrities. Two on the list have sold the rights to their names almost entirely, three are deceased, but still making a large amount of money annually, and the rest of the people are still building up their price tags.

• Muhammad Ali - $63 million, sold in April of this year
• George Foreman - $137.5 million, sold in 1999
• Albert Einstein - $1 million annually
• Marilyn Monroe - $1.25 million annually
• Paris Hilton $15 million annually
• Tiger Woods - $21 million annually
• P Diddy - $22 million annually
• Michael Jordon - $25 million annually
• Jennifer Lopez - $35 million annually
• Elvis Presley - $40 million annually
• Elizabeth Taylor - $50 million annually
• Donald Trump - $280 million annually