A pair of pearl earrings belonging to actress Gina Lollobrigida sold for an auction record of $2.39 million at Sotheby’s Geneva Tuesday as the veteran Italian star auctioned off some dazzling jewellery.

The lot, the highlight of the auction, went under the hammer for more than twice the pre-sale estimate, and in doing so broke the previous record for pearl earrings set by a pair from the jewel box of fellow screen siren Elizabeth Taylor in 2011.

Lollobrigida, a popular movie star in the 1950s and ’60s, was selling off a collection created by Italian jewellers Bulgari, with some of the auction proceeds going to help stem cell research.

Lollobrigida, 85, said she was “very happy that the jewels would help a good cause.

“Selling my jewels to help raise awareness of stem cell therapy, which can cure so many illnesses, seems to me a wonderful use to which to put them,” she said.

Sotheby’s said the entire collection sold for a total of just under $5 million.