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...
As the final wave engulfs the brilliant career of Ralph Esmerian, the last of his treasures are being sold off to cover his debts. While the former owner of Fred Leighton awaits sentencing for bankruptcy fraud on July 22, most of what remains of the famous collection he pledged (or double-pledged) as collateral is...
Jewelry designed by Salvador Dali is the hot ticket these days at auction and museums. Three major exhibits are spotlighting the jeweled versions of his surrealism this year. “My art encompasses physics, mathematics, architecture, nuclear science – the psycho-nuclear, the mystico-nuclear – and jewelry – not paint alone,” Dali wrote in the 1959 catalog...
In honor of this month's magical birthstone, Bonhams & Butterfields is dedicating an entire auction to opals, from fiery Mexicans to cool Australians. There's even an opal hat.
In the 1930s, Van Cleef & Arpels was commissioned by a Maharajah to create an aquarium for his pet tree frog. “La Maison d’Hortense” was outfitted with a tiny gold ladder for the frog to ascend or descend, according to the weather. The aquarium was later transformed into its present state, a birdcage housing...
