Christie’s sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s famous jewels was anticipated to be the most important single-owner jewelry sale in a decade, but the results were staggering. Taylor’s jewelry went for $115,932,000 – the most ever paid for a private jewelry collection. World record prices were also set for pearls, diamonds, rubies and Indian jewels. Recession,...
Rahul Kadakia met Elizabeth Taylor at an auction in Cannes in 1999. “I was a young boy and here was Miss Taylor, Hollywood star and humanitarian, and she was right there beside me, helping me raise funds for the American Foundation for Aids Research,” says Kadakia. “I thought, you know, this is the mark...
Most of us know by now that Dali, Calder, even Picasso designed jewelry at some point. But Yoko Ono, Frank Stella, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons? Before Picasso to Koons went up at the Museum of Arts and Design last month, I didn’t know they designed jewelry. Most of it is from the collection of...
Continued from Jewelry by Picasso: the secret stash of Dora Maar, part 2 Gloria Lieberman, director of fine jewelry at Skinners in Boston, had not seen the jewelry Picasso made for Dora Maar when we spoke before the 1998 auction, though she has sold plenty of the jewelry he designed with François Hugo in...
Continued from Jewelry by Picasso: the secret stash of Dora Maar, part 1: At the auction, a chrome-metal watch with a brass plaque engraved with a portrait of Maar sold for about $63,000 – 19 times its estimated value of $3,300. A portrait ring in a metal frame of lattice flower work, estimated at...
In case you were wondering, the Picasso in Picasso to Koons: Artist as Jeweler, opening next month at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC, is Pablo, not his daughter Paloma, who designed jewelry for Tiffany. Among the 135 pieces of jewelry by famous 20th century artists, you’ll find five by Pablo Picasso,...
Ralph Esmerian, fourth-generation jewelry dealer and former owner of the Fred Leighton chain, was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for double pledging and reselling collateral used to secure more than $210 million in loans. Manhattan federal Judge Denise Cote also ordered Esmerian to perform 1,800 hours of community service and forfeit $20...
Ralph Esmerian, former owner of Fred Leighton, pleaded guilty last week to bankruptcy fraud, a tragic turn in a respected family business that took a century to build. 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...
Only a few years ago, Ralph Esmerian was riding high, a respected dealer and collector taking over the role of jeweler to the stars as the new owner of Fred Leighton. Charming and well-spoken, Esmerian was frequently photographed with famous actresses. In November, a different kind of photo appeared in major news outlets: a...
Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold their big jewelry sales this week in New York City, and their hopes are pinned on diamonds. Sotheby’s is up first with a 29.53-carat pear-shaped diamond, internally flawless (pictured at left, courtesy Sotheby’s), at their Important Jewels sale, to be held Monday, October 19th. The diamond is estimated at...
