Author: Michelle

Rubies: The Top 5 at Auction

Michelle

What does the color red invoke in your mind? Does it bring up thoughts of passion, anger, evil, danger? For gemstones, rubies are considered, ‘the king of precious stones’. These stones are highly prized in cultures from the past and present. At auction these stones are also highly sought after. Jewels du Dour looked at the top rubies at auction for their July 2015 article. I want to update that and include some current rubies that have surpassed the cost per carat of the reigning champs. My table is below:

Ruby_blog_post_top_5_rubies

May of 2015 Sotheby’s topped the charts with the highest amount paid per carat at auction for their Sunrise Ruby Ring. An almost 26 carat ruby that brought in … Read the rest

Joan and her Jewelry

Michelle

Joan Rivers style was best described by her daughter Melissa as a ‘maximalist, more is more’.  My memories of Joan Rivers, the celebrity were her larger than life style choices, her choice words and her fashion! Joan was doing standup, working on Fashion Police, publishing books, winning on the Apprentice…the list can go on.

Joan_celebrity_photos

This is only the one side of Joan that she showed to the world. She had another as a mother and grandmother. So when she passed away about 2 years ago, her daughter, Melissa, took the time to go over the estate and share her memories of her mother through the collection shown at Christie’s Auction House in New York City. The auction of her more … Read the rest

Spotting David Webb Jewels at Christie’s June Auction

Michelle

This month wraps up the summer auctions for fine jewelry in New York and Boston. As I was looking through the auction catalogs I saw a necklace in the sale of Christie’s jewels that had me take a second look at the description and mark it as a must see when I came to the auction house this past weekend. It was a beautiful multi- colored sapphire necklace. Shown below:

DavidWebb_sapphire_necklace_6_16

What had me take a second look was the designer…

Sapphire_necklace_description

That’s right, David Webb. The same David Webb whose other jewels in the same auction look like this:

David_webb_christies

No date is given, so it might have been a special commission. Either way I wanted to get a look at the … Read the rest

Emeralds at Auction

Michelle

May is almost over and there are only a few more major auctions before summer is here. So before May ends I want to look at the emeralds that went on auction in the 2015-2016 season. Emeralds are the birthstone for May but they are also the stones for celebrating a 20th or 35th anniversary.  The interesting meaning behind emeralds is that they are called the ‘Stone of Successful Love’. ‘Emerald promotes friendship, balance between partners, and is particularly known for providing domestic bliss, contentment and loyalty. It was dedicated in the ancient world to the goddess Venus for its ability to insure security in love’.(CrystalVaults)

I will look at 4 auction houses: Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, and Skinner. … Read the rest

Viewing Cartier’s Paris Nouvelle Vague Collection in Boston

Michelle

Hopefully the weather was good for you over the weekend! In Boston it was great weather to be out and plenty of people were! Newbury Street in Boston, a historic street with luxury stores, was crowded with everyone from college students dining outdoors to the tourist crowd walking the street with Chanel bags. I was walking down Newbury Street to view a collection I had seen an ad for on Facebook.

On Friday afternoon I checked my Facebook and saw a sponsored post from Cartier. (See below)

facebookAD_05_2016

I don’t know if you have purchased an ad on Facebook but in many cases you can get insights on how many have viewed or liked the post. Above you can see the … Read the rest

Shirley Temple Blue Diamond at Auction

Michelle

When seeing a movie besides the story and actors I pay attention to the jewelry shown. A favorite scene of mine is from the movie Bright Eyes starring Shirley Temple and James Dunn. (pictured below)

Bright_Eyes_ring_look

Close up of the ‘magic’ ring…

Bright_Eyes_ring_close_up

 

Dunn tells Shirley that this ring is a magic ring. If she ever needs him, she just needs to send the ring and he will come right back for her.

Well Shirley Temple had another ring that is up for auction this week. It is nothing less than spectacular it is an almost 10 carat deep blue diamond. As a fan of her work, I had to make the trip to New York to glimpse at this piece … Read the rest

Jewelry by Suzanne Belperron : A Book Review

Michelle

I knew little about Suzanne Belperron. My first introduction to her work was seeing the blue chalcedony jewelry she designed for Wallis Simpson. I then learned bits and pieces about her life and jewelry designs. These bits of information amounted to photos of past jewelry identified as a Belperron piece and dates such as birth, death, job history, etc. When I heard a new book on her life and jewelry was being published in February, I put my name on Amazon’s pre-order list. Madam Belperron remained a private person throughout her life but it is her work and those around her, clients, coworkers, etc, that really tell a story of the woman behind the designs. The book is fabulous! It … Read the rest

Harvard Retail & Luxury Goods Conference: How Brands like Cartier are blending their Heritage with Data Analytics

Michelle

Harvard Business School hosted the 12th Annual Retail and Luxury Goods Conference with a daylong event on February 21. Brands represented at the conference included Richemont, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch and other retailers. The theme of the conference was Reinventing Retail. I attended the conference and felt that the brands I heard were having a message of blending their traditions with insight’s from data. I will include my key takeaways from the two sessions I attended: The Future of Tradition and Innovation with Insight.

The Future of Tradition

Panelists:

  • Mercedes Abramo, President & CEO, Cartier North America
  • Michelle Giguere, Director of Buying, Tory Burch
  • Scott Cameron, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer , Canada Goose
… Read the rest

Goodbye Dorfman Jewelers

Michelle

Front

If you visit Boston and take the Duck Tour, one of the stops is Newbury Street. The driver takes a moment to tell about the high-end shops and important people who shop on this street. When the Duck boats roll up to Newbury Street after February 20th, Newbury Street will feel a little less glamorous. Dorfman Jewelers is closing today.

I came to Boston almost seven years ago to attend graduate school. I was not in the area too long before I found my way to Newbury Street and Dorfman. I want to focus this post on my experience with the store and the jewelry. Sometimes you can be too close to a subject, which makes it hard … Read the rest

Hearts on Auction

Michelle

In honor of Valentine’s Day I have put together a few heart shaped jewelry items that were on the auction block. I am looking at items sold by Skinner Auction House in Boston, Sotheby’s, and Christies. All of them are beautiful, a few have some interesting history and one has created a scandal that will put it back in the auction house once again!

 

Skinner Auction House:

Skinner_67_12_2015_1

An 18kt Gold, Ruby, and Diamond Pendant sold in 2015 at the Fine Jewelry Auction for $1,230.

 

Skinner_121_12_2015_1An Antique 14kt Gold and Pink Tourmaline Necklace sold in 2015 at the Fine Jewelry Auction for $9,840.

Skinner diamond blog

Important Diamond sold in 2015 at the Fine Jewelry Auction for $3,947,000.

Note: I saw this … Read the rest