With a haul of almost $116 million, the sale was the most valuable private collection of jewels sold at auction, clobbering the previous record set in Geneva in 1987 by the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels which brought $50 million. The Taylor jewelry sale also set a world record for the most valuable jewelry auction, period.

La Peregrina, top lot of the night at $11.8 million, set two world records – one for pearl jewel, breaking the record set by the Baroda Pearls ($7 mil at Christie’s NY in 2007), and another for historic pearl, previously held by La Perle Napoléon, better known as La Régente pearl (below left), which sold for $2.5 million at Christie’s Geneva in 2005. The Bonapartes claimed La Peregrina too at one point.

But there was a third pearl record set that night for the most ever paid for a pair of natural pearl ear pendants (above) designed by Bulgari. Though not as elaborately set or pedigreed as the Peregrina, those were some sweet natural pearls and they sold for just shy of $2 million.

The Bulgari emerald and diamond pendant brooch broke the 2004 record set by the Jahangir Shah Emerald at Sotheby’s London for any emerald jewel, as well as the per-carat record set this year by the Muzo emerald at Sotheby’s Geneva.

Another Bulgari number, the fancy vivid yellow diamond ring (below) broke the per-carat record for yellow diamonds set at Sotheby’s NY in 1997. Taylor’s ring sold for $962,500 ($367,366 per carat).

That Van Cleef & Arpels ruby and diamond ring I mentioned last time also broke not one but two records, topping the per-carat record set by the Graff Ruby at Christie’s St. Moritz in 2006. It was also the most ever paid at auction for any Van Cleef & Arpels jewel, a record set at Sotheby’s NY in 1989.

This was a big year for Indian jewels. Taylor’s Taj Mahal sold for $8.8 million, setting a world record for Indian jewels – but the record it broke was set only last spring at Christie’s Geneva for another interesting piece of Indian jewelry history, the Imperial Mughal spinel necklace (left), which went for $5.2 million.

It was set with spinel beads engraved with the names of emperors. Along with diamonds and emeralds, large spinel beads were favored by the Mughal emperors, who spared no expense in the search for spectacular stones. “As much as these gems were a symbol of the opulence and dignity of the empire,” the catalog states, “they were also treasured as protective talismans.”

Taylor’s Taj Mahal Diamond (right) was also engraved, and mounted on a ruby and gold chain designed by Cartier – just a little something from Richard Burton for her 40th birthday. More about that in my previous post.

You’ll notice that many of the record-setters I just listed had some kind of royal pedigree. In this country, Hollywood is where the royalty hangs – and that kind of royalty inflates auction prices far beyond any practical estimate can ever account for.

As a specialist at Christie’s told me a decade ago, after a string of record-breaking celebrity sales that began in 1999 when Marilyn Monroe’s ring from Joe DiMaggio sold for $772,000 on a high estimate of $70,000: “These sales are emotion-driven. How do you put an estimate on Marilyn Monroe’s makeup case? My solution is to estimate very low in hopes that the market will find itself. In this market, there is always more shock than disappointment.”

Related posts:

Elizabeth Taylor jewelry auction breaks five world records

Liz Taylor on the block: $100 and up

Elizabeth Taylor: jewels of a lifetime

Van Cleef & Arpels: celebrity style

Van Cleef & Arpels: glamor and invention

                          

Bidding was still going hot and heavy by 10:30 pm on December 13, 2011, at Christie's packed auction house in Rockefeller Center

Recession, where were you last night? As crowds of holiday revelers packed Rockefeller Plaza outside, with its giant blue-lit tree, carols echoing from the ice skating rink, glittering jewels were flashing on a screen a few yards away while another crowd bid with quiet intensity, applauding each exhilarating hammer price.

No evidence of constrained budgets in that standing-room only auction room last night. It was rumored that everyone seated had to make a $100,000 commitment, the rest of the madding crowd filled the overflow room. Still, it seemed at least half the purchases were being made via phone. Rumors circulated that Madeleine Albright, owner of the Read My Pins collection that’s about to land at the Denver Art Museum, was in attendance. We’ll see if any of Taylor’s brooches lands on her lapel.

Taylor was showered in jewels by several famous men – most notably her husbands, actor Richard Burton, producer Mike Todd, and singer Eddie Fisher – as well as Michael Jackson. The decade of her two marriages and tumultuous relationship with Burton produced the most treasure. Eight of last night’s top sellers – about $47 million worth – came from him, or were purchased by the two of them as a couple. Her brief marriage to Mike Todd in the 1950s, before he was killed in a plane crash, produced several million as well. And that’s just the top 10!

Some highlights from last night’s sale:

La Peregrina pearl, once owned by King Phillip II of Spain, set in Cartier necklace, sold for $11,842,500, a world record for a pearl jewel (Christie's Images)

Most astonishing price went for La Pérégrina Pearl, given to Taylor by Richard Burton in 1969, which Christie’s had estimated at $2 to $3 million. It sold last night for $11,842,500, highest price ever paid for a pearl jewel at auction.

That luscious pear-shaped pearl was originally found by an African slave on the Gulf of Panama in the 16th century, given to the administrator of the Spanish Colony in exchange for his freedom, and then to King Phillip II of Spain. It ended up in the hands of the Bonapartes, appeared in two paintings by Velazquez, and was eventually sold to an English duke.

Burton scored the famous pearl for $37,000 in 1969. After all that, it wound up in the teeth of Elizabeth Taylor’s dog. She lost the Peregrina hours after receiving it, embarked on a frantic search and eventually found her Pekingese puppy chewing on it like a bone. Remarkably, the Peregrina appears unmarred, a testament to the durability of natural pearls.

Taylor had the pearl set in a stunning necklace of pearls, rubies and diamonds designed by Al Durante of Cartier under her own very specific instructions.

Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, 33.19 carats, purchased by Burton in 1968, sold for $8.18mil (Christie's Images)

Second highest price went for the final piece sold, the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, a 33.19-carat rock worn daily by Taylor. It sold for $8,818,500 on an estimate of $3.5 million – and a world record per-carat price for colorless diamonds. When Richard Burton bought it in 1968, it was called the Krupp Diamond for its former owner, wife of a German arms manufacturer.

“I thought how perfect it would be if a nice Jewish girl like me were to own it,” Taylor once said. (She converted to Judaism in 1959, between marriages to Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher, both Jews.) She described the diamond’s “deep Asscher cuts—which are so complete and so ravishing,” as steps leading “into eternity and beyond… it sort of hums with its own beatific life.”

Taj Mahal Diamond, c. 1627, on gold and ruby chain by Cartier, sold for $8.18mil, highest price ever paid for an Indian jewel (Christie's Images)

“How many young women get a set of rubies just for doing something wholesome like swimming laps?” she once asked (referring to the Cartier suite from Mike Todd, necklace of which sold for $3,778,500 last night). “Or win a diamond ring at ping-pong with their husband?”

The “Ping Pong Ring” had tiny diamonds by Taylor’s standards but she often wore it with the humongous Krupp, jokingly holding it up when people asked to see “the diamond.”

Another famous diamond sold for the same amount as that famous rock, but this time the $8 mil+ price brought gasps. While the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond was expected to bring a few million, the unusual Indian Taj Mahal diamond was estimated at only $300-500,000.

Burton gave it to Liz when she turned 40, a heart-shaped diamond engraved with the words “Love Is Everlasting,” originally owned by the Persian emperor in the 17th century. Cartier had remounted the diamond in a chain of gold and rubies designed to resemble the old, silk cord from which the stone was originally suspended.

Ruby and diamond ring by Van Cleef & Arpels, from Burton in '68, set a record for rubies (Christie's Images)

The Burtons purchased it at Kennedy Airport while waiting for a connection. Yes, if you call ahead, you can get Cartier to meet you at an airport with their most valuable jewels – if you happen to be Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, that is. (Burton always made fun of jetsetters, but if that’s not the definition of a jetsetter, I don’t know what is.)

For all the millions Mike Todd’s diamond-and-ruby suite brought, Burton trumped his predecessor yet again (from the grave), with the 8.24ct ruby and diamond ring by Van Cleef & Arpels he gave his lady love on Christmas of 1968. It sold last night for $4,226,500, four times the estimate and a world record per-carat price for a ruby.

Related posts:

Liz Taylor on the block: $100 and up

Elizabeth Taylor: jewels of a lifetime

Van Cleef & Arpels: celebrity style

Van Cleef & Arpels: glamor and invention

Related products:

                          

Bracelet (left) of amethysts and emeralds, c. 1937, by René Boivin, and two by Suzanne Belperron of amethysts, tourmalines and kunzite (center) and tourmalines, emeralds and peridot (Christie's Images)

[Update 11/27/11: René Boivin bracelet on the left sold for $245,756, more than expected, but Suzanne Belperron's design with green stones, far right, sold for $330,980, a record price for a Belperron bracelet and more than double the estimate. Further proof that Belperron's reputation is continuing to grow, along with the value of her jewelry.]

Bracelet on the left was designed by Juliette Moutard of Boivin around the time Suzanne Belperron created the two on the right. Moutard took over as chief designer at Boivin in 1931, the  year Belperron went out on her own, having working for Boivin since 1921. The bracelets have the characteristic bold, geometric style and unconventional materials for which the house of René Boivin became famous under Jeanne Boivin.

Suzanne Belperron and Juliette Moutard of the René Boivin were both rising design stars in the decade before World War II, after which gold and lavish gems became difficult, if not impossible, to come by – especially in occupied Paris.

Their bracelets show how similarly the two women were designing at the time, even though Belperron had left Boivin several years before. Like Moutard, Belperron’s career was launched by Jeanne Boivin, who took over the firm after her husband’s death in 1917 and continued his legacy for bold innovation. Even though the Boivin jewels created in the following decades carry his name, what you’re really seeing, for the most part, is the collective, creative genius of a small group of women.

One of the bracelets by Belperron (center) is made with amethysts, tourmalines and kunzite; the other (right) has tourmalines, emeralds, and peridot. Each is estimated to sell at Christie’s Paris on November 24 for $110,000 to $165,000. (For more about upcoming jewelry auctions, visit our auction calendar.) The Boivin bracelet is expected to bring a bit more ($137,600 to $206,400). Here’s a closer look at that one:

Gold bracelet with amethysts and emeralds by René Boivin, late 1930s (Christie's Images)

Soon after designing this piece, Juliette Moutard would abandon bold, geometric work for a more naturalistic style. Unlike Belperron, who went out on her own, Moutard stayed with Boivin for the rest of her career, well into the 1970s. Boivin’s daughter Germaine joined the firm as a designer in 1938 and took over running the company after her mother retired.

Related posts:

Women who paved the way: Jeanne Poiret Boivin

Women who paved the way: Suzanne Belperron

Women who paved the way: Jeanne Toussaint of Cartier

Jewelry & watch auctions 2011

Related products: (Buying from links on this site doesn’t cost you extra but does add a few pennies to the maintenance of this blog.)

                          

Anna Torv wearing Lorraine Schwartz earrings with more than 80 carats of carved rubies at 2011 Emmy Awards

Sofia Vergara wearing Lorraine Schwartz emerald-and-diamond earrings at 2011 Emmy Awards

Aubrey Plaza wearing Lorraine Schwartz diamond cuffs and 20-carat diamond drop earrings at 2011 Emmy Awards

Elisabeth Moss in Lorraine Schwartz bronze champagne diamond earrings (and bronzed platinum diamond ring) at 2011 Emmy Awards

For the grand finale, when was the last time you saw fire opal mixed with amethyst on the red carpet – in an over-sized matching floral set? It took Heidi Klum to pull that one off:

Heidi Klum wearing Lorraine Schwartz floral earrings of fire opal, amethyst and diamonds at 2011 Emmy Awards and...

...her matching floral ring

It’s not the first time Heidi has strolled the red carpet wearing over-sized carved gems in nature-theme jewels. Here’s what she wore in 2008:

                          

Silver lacquer box, 2011, of silver, gold powder and wood by Shinya Yamamura (ippodogallery.com)

I admit it. I’m obsessed with jewelry boxes. This is partly because my own jewelry is overflowing my current jewelry box, stashed in various velvet boxes and satin bags and getting harder and harder to find.

But I also love the idea of beautiful containers for beautiful ornaments. In a perfect world, I would have a whole collection of jewelry boxes and each would hold the jewelry that belongs in it.

In this century, wood became the standard material for jewelry boxes – and there are many stunning examples. But wood is only one option. Asprey & Garrard sell suede-lined portable jewelry cases of stamped calfskin. Bronze and carved stone containers have been around since antiquity.

What would you guess this jewelry box was made from?

Always Blooming copper jewelry box, 2008, by Ryu-Hee Kim with separate containers for each season

I bet “copper” wasn’t your first guess. Ryu-Hee Kim was an art student at Indiana University when she created this wonderful box from copper, with separate containers designed to represent all four seasons. It was intended to hold “special jewelry relating to each season.”

Gemstone has a rich history as jewelry containers go. Master lapidaries during the Renaissance carved vessels called Prunkgefasse— literally, pride- or magnificence-containers—from rare crystals from the Alps. In the 1920s, Cartier made Egyptian- and Chinese-inspired vanity cases embellished with coral, lapis, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires.

Containers carved of translucent alabaster date to antiquity. The bible even mentions them. Here’s a more recent example:

Alabaster containers designed and carved by Susan Zalkind (alabaster.net)

Can you think of a better place to store floral-theme jewelry – or a more luscious gift box to present a special piece? No one can capture the delicate beauty of a rose like Susan Zalkind, and she does it in alabaster, of all things. The containers she carves with husband Paul Hawkins come from stone they mine themselves, and range from sleek containers inlaid with fossil fish to Susan’s specialty: milky white, semi-translucent containers adorned with hand-carved flowers.

Each flower takes hundreds of hours to carve and their delicate petals look so real, the couple keeps them under glass at craftshows. “People try to smell them,” Susan says. “Old ladies come up and pinch them.”

Hexagonal intarsia box by Nicolai Medvedev of malachite, quartz, sugilite, turquoise, fossilized dinosaur bone, and cuprite. Interior of purpleheart, walnut, cherry wood, picture agate and 18kt gold (northamericangemcarvers.com)

Like the finest Fabergé objects, Nicolai Medvedev’s intarsia boxes are painstakingly handcrafted from high-karat gold, opal, amethyst, and what the Victorians referred to as hardstone: sugilite, malachite, lapis and azurite. Each 18kt gold hinge and clasp is hand-fabricated, each stone carefully shaped. Open a lid, and a jasper landscape appears beneath.

But the fascination of these boxes are their mosaic surfaces. Raised in Russia and trained at the Art Institute of Moscow, Medvedev is a master of intarsia, the labor-intensive lapidary art that flourished in western Europe during the 18th century. The geometric patterns he favors were inspired by the carpets of his homeland, Ashkhabad, Turkmenia, a Russian city near Iran, by the inlay in Middle Asian jewelry, and by the Fabergé he first saw at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

Related posts:

Handcrafted wood jewelry boxes

Antique Chinese hair ornaments

More work by featured artists:

Shinya Yamamura

Susan Zalkind

Nicolai Medvedev

                          

Jewelry box of Olive ash burl handcrafted by John Farrar (johnfarrardesigns.com)

New jewelry is like new love. Once acquired, it’s difficult to part with. We want to take it everywhere. We struggle to keep our hands off it. Alas, the moment comes when it must be unfastened and put away.

One option is to return the beloved jewel to its velvet box and lock it in a safe. Very smart. Infinitely better than dropping it on the dresser where your cat can play hockey with it. (I speak from experience.)

My personal choice: put the treasure where it’s easily retrieved, in a container worthy of its contents. If you collect handcrafted art jewelry, it belongs in a handcrafted art jewelry box.

Jewelry chest in purpleheart wood by Mike Mikutowski ($300, mikutowskiwoodworking.com)

Wood has become the standard material for jewelry boxes, from craftshows to Target. Today, many woodworkers and furniture designers use exotic woods our grandparents never heard of, and apply aesthetics that evolved in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Tsunami jewelry box of Brazilian cherry with birdseye maple drawer pulls by John Traeger ($225, artistrycraftedinwoodworking.com)

One of the most famous contemporary wood craftsmen is Wendell Castle – and, yes, he makes jewelry boxes. These days they look something like this:

Wendell Castle standing beside his anthropomorphic jewelry case at 2010 Design Miami/Basel (photo Lindsay Pollock)

In Wendell Castle’s hands, a jewelry box becomes contemporary sculpture. A collector of cutting-edge art jewelry couldn’t ask for a more appropriate vessel. It’s also among the most accessible objects in the repertoire of Castle, one of the most inventive furniture designers alive today. His work has been in most major American art museums from the Metropolitan to the Art Institute of Chicago.

“It’s all a question of scale,” he says of his jewelry boxes. Castle’s boxes tend to reflect the aesthetic of the tables and chairs he’s designing. Thus, if you like the lacquered cone desk- and table-legs he became famous for in the early ’80s, you’ll probably go for the piece he cheekily dubbed Late Proposal for the Rochester Convention Center in the Form of a Jewelry Box. Likewise, if you prefer his metal platforms from the ’90s, you’ll covet the mahogany and ebony boxes that seem to float mid-air, carried by a wave of textured bronze.

The one pictured above is the most recent of Castle’s jewelry boxes, and it’s just exactly to my taste. This artist’s boxes may look like sculptures, but they all conceal places to hold rings, necklaces, and brooches, with various drawers and sometimes two levels of trays. “I will never know what people do with these things after they leave my studio, whether they use them or just look at them as objects,” Castle says. “But, oh yes, they’re all fully functional.”

My thanks to Lindsay Pollock for letting me use the photo of Wendell Castle. Check out Lindsay’s wonderful blog Art Market Views.

Related posts:

Thinking outside the jewelry box

Antique Chinese hair ornaments

More work by featured artists:

John Farrar

Mike Mikutowski

John Traeger

Wendell Castle

                          

2011 Super Bowl platinum ring designed by Jostens for the Green Bay Packers has 109 diamonds totally 3.35 carats set in 18kt gold (photo Jostens Inc.)

UPDATE: Here it is at last, the Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl championship ring, presented to the team at a Thursday night celebration in Lambeau Field Atrium. The Packers bucked the recent trend to go with a name-brand jewelry designer like Tiffany or an edgier up-and-coming designer for Super Bowl rings, sticking instead with Jostens, the Minnesota-based company that has produced 29 of the 45 Super Bowl rings, and all four of the Packers’.

Green Bay Packers celebrated the inaugural Super Bowl in 1966 with this modest ring (Jostens)

Jostens’ approach to Super Bowl ring design  has come a long way since the first one they produced for the Packers in 1967 (right), set with a single one-carat diamond.

In keeping with the ever-increasing bling  of the big-time championship ring, this year’s has 109 diamonds – totally 3.35 carats – and weighs 116 grams (about four ounces).

Central motif in this year’s ring is the team’s G logo cast in 18kt gold and embedded with 13 diamonds representing  the team’s 13 NFL championships. The logo was placed on a green stone tablet and surrounded by four marquis-cut diamonds, representing the team’s four Super Bowl victories, and 92 more diamonds for their 92-year history. (A championship ring these days is a mathematical dilemma, measured out in diamonds.)

One side of the ring is engraved with images of Lambeau Field and the player’s name and team number, the other with an image of the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl XLV trophy. Inside the shank are the scores of Green Bay’s four postseason wins and the team motto: “One mind, goal, purpose, heart.”

Official statement from Packers president/CEO Michael Murphy: “The victory in Super Bowl XLV was a great achievement for the organization. Jostens has done a fantastic job of capturing the excitement of the win for everyone at the Packers.”

For the backstory on this ring and a short history of Super Bowl championship rings, see my February post: Super Bowl championship rings for the Packers

Related products:

                          

She uses a combination of techniques and eco-friendly materials, with an emphasis on texture and movement. She also donates a percentage of all sales to charities such as the Komen Foundation.

How did you get involved in Reiki and how do you apply it to your jewelry designs?

When the sister of a friend found out she had leukemia, she asked for one of my necklaces and I decided to research healing stones to help her. I began cleansing my art jewelry, using sound (bells) and smudging – burning herbs and placing the stone or metal in direct contact with the smoke.

Reiki is more a process that I use after the piece is made. But being an artist opens me up to the Universe through the sheer act of creating. So in a sense, I apply a type of cleansing while I’m working. Applying Reiki after the piece is completed solidifies the healing process, at least for me.

Can you give me an example of a piece designed  with healing stones?

Waterfall (left), a collaborative piece I designed with wood turner Ed Kelle, combining his gorgeous textured, reclaimed walnut with a number of healing stones. Blue topaz helps with clarity and concentration. Labradorite protects one’s aura. Blue quartz produces a naturally balanced energy field. Apatite helps with healing, communicating and balancing energy. Smoky quartz disperses negative patterns. Aquamarine encourages the innate ability to always be prepared. And silver attracts and retains the qualities of the gemstones.

How do the other art forms and materials you work with affect your jewelry?

Sometimes a stone will spark a design – its matrix, color or shape. Sometimes it’s a material I want to work with – cement, wood or metal tubing – that brings forth the design. I prefer to use textures and materials that work with and against one another: dry wood against a shiny, “wet” stone, against cold metal. I enjoy juxtapositions.

My jewelry is formed from play and experimentation.  Each new piece becomes a bit more complex as I explore and learn.

How important is sustainability and eco-friendly material to your brand?

Extremely.  I can’t very well offer healing jewelry if collecting the materials I use causes harm to our environment or others. I make sure the wood is sustainable (re-used). I mainly purchase metals that have been recycled and I’m always dipping into my metal clippings. With the price of metal these days, I’m sure that more jewelers are re-using their scraps.

Fair Trade and “conscious” gems are harder to come by. There are few companies who can state that their gems come from mines they monitor. I buy opals from a family who owns a mine in Ethiopia and cabochons from either the mines themselves or people who cut the stones and have extensive knowledge of their origins.

If you walk into a bead store or buy online, you have no idea where the stones came from and who is mining them, how the miners are being treated or how well they’re paid. I try to be as knowledgeable as possible about the materials I use.

How does your background in fashion merchandising impact your jewelry?

I have the unusual ability to not only design but also merchandise my line. When I create a piece I take into account the amount of materials used, material prices, number of pieces in a vignette,  length of time to create, and current retail jewelry pricing.

But it really comes down to creating. If I’m feeling a particular way about the design of a piece, sometimes I throw my merchandising hat out the window and just enjoy myself.  There is a balance between the free flow of design and the merchandiser in me and I try to allow them to live together peacefully.

I recently launched Open Studio, Creative Mentoring so that I can guide other artists who want to better understand the wholesale market and how to cross into that business territory.

For more of Andrea’s creations, visit Andrea Rosenfeld Designs.

                          

Platinum and diamond open-work ring by Alex Sepkus (alexsepkus.com)

Not all designers work individually with couples to customize wedding rings, but sometimes galleries that represent those designers will serve as liaison. This allows designers who prefer to work independently to benefit from the demand for customized wedding rings and for couples to end up with a favorite designer’s work as a wedding ring, possibly tweaked slightly to taste or even using supplied stones.

My own ring was made with four diamonds from an eternity band my husband’s grandmother wore. I love the fact that my sisters-in-law all wear rings set with stones from that same ring. It seems to me that in the best world, marriage is about more than just the union of two people, it’s also about a union of families. We wrote our vows to reflect that. Why shouldn’t our wedding rings?

I also like that even though the diamonds match, each of our rings is unique. I had mine channel-set in a simple, modern setting. One of my sisters-in-law had hers designed by a jeweler who owns a gallery on Cape Cod. Hers is delicate and feminine, which suits her.

Queen Ring of iron, platinum, 18k gold and purple sapphire by Pat Flynn (PatFlynnInc.com)

If you spot a wedding ring you like in a gallery that specializes in studio jewelry, it’s worth asking if the designer makes custom rings. Even designers like Todd Reed and Alex Sepkus will often design around supplied stones.

Not all designers and studio jewelers are open to custom work, however. If you really love Pat Flynn’s jewelry, for example, you’ll probably have to settle for a ring he’s already made. You can rest assured it will be unique.

Flynn prefers to let galleries handle his ring orders. Because his rings often combine diamonds and precious metals with wrought iron, they appeal to men as well as women, and many buy them as wedding bands.

Occasionally, a fan will talk him into designing a custom ring, using supplied stones, but he often regrets taking those commissions. “Guiding clients in the right direction takes a certain skill and a certain confidence, the ability to tell people what you want to make and then convince them that’s what they want,” he says. “I’m not really good at that so I shy away. I prefer building work for myself, sending it to galleries and letting them put in out in the world.”

Ring fabricated from iron, 18k gold and moonstone by Pat Flynn (patflynninc.com)

He does occasionally give in to a request from friends, even though he usually sweats it out. “Frequently, the piece ends up being an amazing thing. I’m working with materials I don’t normally work with and that can turn into something quite remarkable, with a different scale and presence. It’s nice to push yourself sometimes, just give it a go and see what happens.”

He recently designed wedding rings for a friend and his wife that turned out beautifully, and everyone was happy. “It was a very pleasant experience,” Flynn says. “I have friends and clients who have worn my rings for a really long time and that’s a special thing.”

Best bet for couples who don’t happen to be close personal friends of the artist? Order rings through Twist, an online gallery that represents Flynn’s work, along with Cathy Waterman, Lisa Jenks, and a lot of other talented designers.

Related posts:

Weddings rings reinvented: hands-on collaborations

Wedding rings reinvented: customizing for couples (Jacob Albee)

Wedding rings reinvented: customized by Todd Reed

Wedding rings reinvented: recycling gold jewelry (Marne Ryan)

Pat Flynn: diamonds and nails

Todd Reed: reinventing diamond jewelry

                          

The Esmerians began like many jewelry businesses that relocated to New York in the early twentieth century, bringing their expertise in the old world European jewelry trade, then passing it on to the next generation. New York is full of successful third- and fourth-generation gem and jewelry dealers, but few rose as high as Esmerian.

Rockefeller Sapphire of 62.02 carats flanked by diamonds and mounted in platinum, sold for $3,031,000 in 2001 (Chrisitie's Images)

Esmerian’s grandfather Paul worked as a lapidary in Constantinople before relocating to Paris in 1890. His son Raphael entered the business in 1919 and began pioneering the cutting and trading of colored gems as we know it. Raphael Esmerian (1903-1976) became a leading gem dealer in Europe and began traveling to New York to supply stones for Cartier.

This famous sapphire (right) provided a steady source of income for the Esmerian family over the years. Raphael Esmerian appraised the stone, then owned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., more than once. In the 1940s, he helped Pierre Cartier recut it for a brooch. Then, in 1971, he bought it at auction himself for $170,000 and resold it.

The Rockefeller Sapphire appeared again at auction in 1980, four years after Raphael passed away, and it was his son Ralph Esmerian who bought it this time – for $1.5 million. He had it repolished to its current weight of 62 carats, set in a platinum ring, and sold. In 1988, Esmerian repurchased the stone at auction, this time for the world record price of $2,850,000, and sold it yet again.

Butterfly brooch of fancy yellow diamonds set in oxidized steel and 18k gold with articulated wings by Ralph Esmeian, maker's mark Carvin French, c. 1997, sold at Christie's in 2001 (Christie's Images)

Over the next four decades, Esmerian built up the family business, joining forces with André Chervin at Carvin French to create jeweled creatures like the yellow-diamond butterfly (above) and pink-diamond flamingos (below). He also became a renowned collector of antique jewelry and folk art. It took decades to build his business and a collection worth many millions, but it all unraveled with breathtaking speed after he offered his personal collection as collateral to buy Fred Leighton.

Art Nouveau dog collar plaque by René Lalique of enamel and gold with carved glass profile of Narcissus, c. 1900, part of the canceled 2008 sale (Christie's Images)

Flamingo brooch (detail) of pink diamonds with black diamond beaks, ruby eyes and demantoid garnet grass by Carvin French from cancelled 2008 sale (Christie's Images)

Over the  years, Esmerian acquired some beautiful jeweled objects, including several rare examples of Art Deco gem-set desk clocks and Art Nouveau jewelry like the brooch (above) designed by René Lalique. Many were offered in the Christie’s auction arranged by Merrill Lynch in 2008 to pay off some of Esmerian’s loan. Esmerian called it “a fire sale.”

Esmerian’s name was not mentioned in the catalog for that sale, titled “Rare Jewels and Gemstones: The Eye of a Collector,” but in its introduction, François Curiel, head of jewelry at Christie’s, praised the “subtle taste and eye” behind the collection.

At 6:05 pm, as the sale was about to begin, a call came in. Esmerian had convinced the court to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy for Fred Leighton. Curiel announced from the podium that the sale would not take place. “We had a room full of 100 people, 150 more lined up to be on phone, and all the internet bidders waiting,” Curiel told me. “People were disappointed, disgusted, not happy. One guy who had flown in from Hong Kong especially to buy several pieces, left the room.”

Curiel too was disappointed but all was not lost. The next morning, an agent from the Louvre called, inquiring about buying the most famous piece in the sale: the diamond bow brooch created for Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoléon III. It had been housed in the Louvre until 1887, when it was sold at public auction by order of the Third Republic, ending up in the possession of New York socialite Caroline Astor.

Empress Eugenie brooch of old mine diamonds set in silver-topped gold, c. 1855, in original case (Christie's Images)

Christie’s now had to get approval from both Merrill Lynch and Esmerian to sell the brooch. Esmerian was not interested in selling to a private party but a museum was a different story. “He has always been very hot for museums and patrimony, conservation, public display,” Curiel told me at the time. “He likes museums. Exhibits have always been his thing.”

The Eugenie brooch, estimated at $4-6 thousand, sold to the Louvre for $10.5 million.

Everyone was happy. Merrill Lynch was happy to get twice the estimated price. Curiel, a French citizen, was happy to see a royal jewel from the French court returned to France, and Esmerian, a founder and former chairman of the Museum of American Folk Art, was happy the brooch went to the Louvre.

Negotiating the sale was complicated, given the now questionable ownership of the jewelry. “The judge could have blocked everything and held things up. After all, the brooch has been out of country for 121 years, what was another six months?” Curiel said. “But we managed to do it so quickly, the brooch ended up at the Louvre within a month.”

Page from catalog for the 1887 auction of the Diamonds of the Crown, including Empress Eugenie's brooch, then housed in the Louvre (Christie's Images)

Now it appears Esmerian was doing a little private dealing of his own, putting up the same jewelry as collateral more than once (double-pledging), and quietly selling off choice pieces without notifying his lenders, including the now infamous $10 million diamond-and-ruby Endymion butterfly brooch by Boucheron.

Looking through the 2008 catalog of Esmerian’s treasures, I can’t help mourning the jewelry itself, now dispersed among personal collections around the world and hidden from view – except for the Eugenie brooch, which was, at long last, returned to the museum from whence it came.

I would have preferred to have it all waiting in a museum display case where I could come and admire it from time to time, along with the rest of the non-millionaire masses who love beautiful, sparkly, historical things.

I suspect Esmerian signed his collection over as collateral the way people pledge their homes, when the future looks rosy, never expecting someone to take him up on it. I think he felt proprietary towards those jewels, as collectors often do, and couldn’t resist trading them on his own, as he had done all his life. He may pay for that mistake by spending the rest of his life in jail.

Related posts:

Bankruptcy sale of Ralph Esmerian’s historic jewelry

Ralph Esmerian: rise and fall of a jewelry connoisseur

Christie’s sells Fred Leighton jewels

René Lalique: ultimate art jeweler

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