I took a break from blogging and then wasn’t sure what to write as a big piece to return to. Would it be addressing the past or focus on an industry issue? I had drafted something and left it. Returning to my blog this piece still holds up with a few edits. Please read on as I address both.
After seeing so many from the jewelry community sharing their political preferences over the past 18 months, I took a break from the online writing as I thought about what course I want to take for my blog and future aspirations. Over that time, I had a post pop up in my feed from a designer I follow and whose pieces I liked, it had nothing to do with jewelry and was very divisive. There was no war of words, but I am no longer following or supporting the designer.
Recently I was curious to see if that designer was having any improvements to their situation. In a word, no. Since the beginning of June, they had 36 posts:
9 Political
13 Jewelry
14 Other (food, costumes, etc)
Barely a third of that jewelry designers Instagram feed was for their craft. It made me realize I should not get so caught up with others social media and most importantly I need to continue to be positive with my media and not alienate those that only wish to enjoy what I enjoy: jewelry.
This was not the only sad tale of a jeweler getting too focused and overwhelmed with current events to realize that if their jewelry outlives them a strange history may follow it. When you look at a piece from the workshop of Faberge what do you see? How does it make you feel? What comes to mind?
I see fine craftsmanship. A feeling of awe and excitement comes over me as I wish I could find out more about its past. The piece above is coming up for auction at Christie’s, so I know some of it’s importance and time period (1913). The mention of Faberge brings to mind a world of grandeur and splendor, many happy moments and the end of an era. I have done several articles on Faberge that you can read here and here if you would like to know more. Honestly, I do not look at it and say, “I wonder if he supported the Bolsheviks” or “Wow how terrible he did business with those Elites”. I’ll never really know his deep political leanings and that is all the better for me. He had many artisans under him whom I’m sure had opinions (some fought in the army), but they just came to work and did a quality job.
What concerns me with the jewelry industry today is that more “designers” are trying to be recognized and bought for their call outs than their craftsmanship, for their conformity to the mainstream versus their creativity. Jewelry should be enjoyed not create disharmony. There is a difference between expressing yourself and shouting at others.
I see the trend reports and social media marketing tips about personalizing your brand. My question for you to think about is, when you buy for yourself do you value how well the product works for the maker or how well it would work for you? How would you feel if a designer recognized the death of a person in another state but ignored their neighbor that died protecting a store near you? (That is a true case for me, I will never look at that designers work the same again after they ignored the death of an innocent person in their own town)
This has also taught me something about the art of jewelry, I need to look at the piece not the person. Do I like it or not? The designer I just referenced has quality items, but it is not something that wows me, I just liked the idea that there was someone near my Midwestern home that was recognized for fine jewelry. That sentiment will be true for others down the road, a piece may be bought for the branding but if it is not a piece that has a timeless quality, it will not thrive long after its purchase.
Now what do you want to focus on, the things you have no control over or the things that you do? What do you want to be associated with? How do you want to live your life? I want to master my analytics skills and take Data in the Rough to a higher level. I can do more and do better, so can you. If any of this resonates reach out on my Instagram. I’d love to connect and see where this year takes us! Thank you for reading this! Please return soon for more Data in the Rough and ignore the haters!
Two Faberge flowers fell short of achieving a high estimate by Antique Roadshow when they hit the auction block in June. The article below looks at what key analysis were missed and trends that should have been focused on for future consideration.
Study the past if you would define the future. This quote by Confucius sums up my thoughts about what direction I am going and hope to be going. Digging deeper on issues always have ‘why’ questions that follow, why do I like this, why am I doing this and why do I want to continue this? Some of my whys are answered by looking back at what I love and why I loved it then and now. For the focus of this article I am looking at Faberge in the news, my all time favorite jeweler. A few weeks ago Hanson Auction in the United Kingdom sold two Faberge flowers. Not exactly news worthy at first glance but the story of how the pieces came to auction is worth a mention.
The two flowers are of a Dwarf Morning Glory and Barberry, that the owner had wrapped in a tea towel and stored in a shoe box! Pieces that sold for 340,000 British pounds ($451,1111) were tucked away in a small box for 40 years! Why did the owner wait until now to bring these pieces to light? The article in the Daily Mail claimed the man came to have the pieces looked at after seeing an Antiques Road Show episode in March where a similar item was valued at over 1 million British pounds.
Dwarf Morning Glory by Faberge sold at Hanson Auction June 11 for 180,000 pounds (hammer price). photo from Hanson Auctions
Barberry by Faberge sold at Hanson Auction June 11 for 160,000 pounds (hammer price). photo from Hanson Auctions
Initially these flowers were predicted to bring in 500,000 pounds by the Antique Roadshow but did not make that estimate. Hanson had a better estimate of 100,000-150,000 pounds for each flower. Why did these flowers fall a little short of the Antique Roadshow estimate? My theory: the Antique Roadshow didn’t look at recent trends in the industry and the seller didn’t take a good look at the market. Examples in an article by ArtNet News cite how auctions at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s either had the bids for the Faberge Flowers fall short of the Antique Roadshow estimate or did not sell at all.
Faberge flower estimated at 1 million pounds ($1.27 million) by Antique Roadshow in 2017. photo from ArtNet News
For the seller, besides the trends in selling Faberge flowers he should have explored the auction houses. Hanson auctioned the flowers off, but those two flowers were the only two Faberge items in the entire June Auction. Was that the right auction house for this sale? Should the seller have gone to Sotheby’s, Christie’s or Bonham’s to try and see if they would be better to sell the flowers? Sotheby’s just had an auction of Russian Works of Art, Faberge and Icons on June 5th.
There are other questions to be answered but those are the two main ones for me. I enjoy analyzing the jewelry industry and am growing my business to do more consulting on social media, strategy and business investments. For anyone regardless of industry or where you are in your career one piece of advice from the story above is don’t hide some of those treasures or dreams you are holding on to. I have held onto some of my personal goals for too long and need to start making things happen! You can too!
Return later as I pursue more wisdom from Faberge and go back to what inspires me so I can build a strong business and help you find ways to improve yours! As always thank you for reading my posts on Data in the Rough!
Full disclosure I have been waiting for this book, Oscar Heyman The Jewelers’ Jeweler, to be released for almost 3 years. I follow JCK news frequently and on July 15, 2014. This story by Jennifer Heebner showed up.
I clicked on the link immediately! There was the editor detailing how this book about the over 100-year-old jewelry company was being worked on by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The main point I wanted to know was the release date, which was estimated around 2015 or 2016. Well that was pushed out, but I waited and waited. Then on February 3rd, 2017 I received an email from the Museum of Fine Arts about the book’s release on April 1st.
April 1, 2017, arrived and I called the MFA to confirm they had this book. The weather in Boston on April 1st was terrible with snow, wind and rain, a good joke for New Englanders’ thinking winter was behind them. Once I knew the book was ready to buy I made my journey, by public transportation no less, to the museum. Why go on the worst day when I could wait for a sunnier day the next? I wanted this book and the wait had been long enough. Amazon was even behind, not releasing it until the next week.
So what got me to this point? What is it that drew me to Oscar Heyman’s jewelry? It wasn’t the jewelry that got me curious about this company it was their reputation and their story.
The Beginnings
In 1901 the Heyman family sent two of their sons, Oscar and his older brother Nathan to train to be jewelers in the Ukraine. They were living in the Russian controlled area of Latvia at the time. These young apprentices manufactured jewelry and other objects for international clients and the House of Peter Carl Faberge. I had previously seen this reference to Faberge in literature about the Oscar Heyman & Brothers Company. This is what caught my eye and had me research and follow this firm for many years now.
I have written some about Faberge. He is one of my (if not my) favorite designer! My goal is to own a small item manufactured by Peter Carl Faberge’s company. It does not matter what it is, because whatever I buy will be of the best quality. That is what made Faberge’s company so wonderful every piece no matter the size or value had to be consistent in quality. Everyone that worked for him or represented his company had to meet his high standards.
From what I have seen and learned about the Oscar Heyman Company on my own and through this book is that they have several aspects of their company that parallel Faberge’s. One being their craftsmanship and the second, relationships.
Craftsmanship
I see a lot of jewelry at auctions, stores, designer open houses, etc. and the over used phrase of, ‘That is so beautiful!’, is frequently heard at these events. But there must be more than beauty to make a piece of jewelry be looked at as an object of art and desire. The jewelry needs a soul.
A story I have highlighting the character of an Oscar Heyman piece, is from a Christie’s online auction preview I went to last year. I was going through the cases, starting at one end and working around, when I heard a Christie employee telling a woman that was trying on jewelry from the case about an Oscar Heyman ring that she identified. I tried to move inconspicuously towards the two. The woman telling the story continued telling how Christie’s received a group of jewelry to be cataloged for this auction and as she was going through the jewelry, a ring stood out to her as being something that looked like it was by Oscar Heyman. There was no stamp of the designer but the worker wanted to just see if it might be one of theirs. Pictures and details of the piece were sent to the Heyman office and sure enough Christie’s was contacted and told the ring was in the Heyman archives! Making it a total of three Oscar Heyman rings being offered at this auction! The woman trying on jewelry was no longer looking at the piece she was currently trying on but taking in this fun story of discovery. She quickly asked if the piece she had on was the ring. Her ring was of a gold alligator that wrapped around her figure, most likely a Kieselstein-Cord ring, definitely not an Oscar Heyman, the Christie’s worker confirmed that. What was the ring you ask? Well the other onlooker wondered if she had picked it but did not ask about seeing the actual ring. I looked in the case and saw three rings with a similar design, a large stone with smaller stones around it. One stood out and I had a feeling that was the ring. So I asked to see the Oscar Heyman ring and the employee picked the one I had my eye on! A yellow diamond in the center with smaller alternating yellow and white diamonds around it. What stood out to me? The setting. The stones were layered and seemed to sit a little higher than the other similarly designed rings. Picture below:
So that was one down. I spotted the second one, a ruby that was in a case by itself.
Had to try it on!
The third one I had to ask. This sapphire and diamond ring was in another case, two out of three is not bad!
Not every quality piece I have seen is from Oscar Heyman, but every Oscar Heyman is a quality piece.
Relationships
Another aspect that the book touches on is relationships the company has with their employees and retailers.
Company loyalty can be hard to find. Even when you do find a stable job the conditions can be hard to be happy in. So, it was refreshing to hear a story about how the Oscar Heyman employees handled the 25th anniversary of the company. Oscar Heyman and his brother came over to America in 1906 and founded their company in 1912. The 25th anniversary took place in 1937, a time when the country was struggling with troubling economic hardships. The day was to be like any other but the employees wanted to mark the occasion. For the silver anniversary, the employees worked in secret for fourteen months to complete a clock to present to their employers. Picture below found from post by Couture Musings:
Around the globe are the letters O. Heyman & Bros each character marking an hour. The figure on the right is to represent a workbench jeweler. The figure on the left is the god Mercury, that represents commerce and financial gain. At the silver base are the names of all the current employees for that time. It was touching to read that story and to think how much those employees must have loved working for the company to do all this!
Faberge ran a workshop that also cared for their workers. The workers had good wages, excellent working facilities and even had the opportunity to manage small businesses within the company. Many pieces not only have the stamp of Faberge but the maker in charge of that object. It gave a sense of pride and ownership to the workers. Rare for a company to be so invested in their workers.
The retailers also had favorable comments about Oscar Heyman. Mr. Heyman passed away in 1970, the book notes that one retailer recalled during the Depression how Mr. Heyman granted his clients with the option of credit and the opportunity to sell the jewelry on consignment. This helped many businesses stay open as paying for those high-end pieces would have crippled their cash flow significantly, causing them to possibly go out of business.
These businesses were not just a few retailers Oscar Heyman’s business model is selling to stores not to consumers. Black, Starr & Frost, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels to name a few had Oscar Heyman & Bros manufacture jewelry to sell under their stores name. When going to auctions you can still find pieces marked as one retailer but were created by the Heyman Company.
Below is a bracelet that was clearly marked in the Sotheby’s catalog as being from Black, Starr & Frost but on Instagram Heyman shared it as one of the pieces they manufactured. In the book a similar bracelet is pictured and credited as Oscar Heyman. Details of this amazing piece at auction are taken by me below.
Looking Forward
The book spends its time focusing on Oscar Heyman’s business from 1912-1970. Ending their story with the passing away of Oscar Heyman on July 13, 1970. A few paragraphs mark the centennial that the company celebrated 5 years ago but the focus on the book is the company through the years.
I genuinely enjoyed the book. I was a little concerned when I saw the page count, worrying it would be all photos and no real story, like a coffee table book. It would have been the easy way to make this book. The thought of picking from hundreds of thousands of jewelry photos seems difficult but how could you go wrong with picking any piece, especially with all the rich history? This book was to show and explain why Oscar Heyman is the Jewelers’ Jeweler. This isn’t a title they claimed for themselves like a marketing campaign. The title has been given to them by the employees, retailers and customers who have been a part of their story. I look forward to continuing to see their jewelry at auctions, in stores and on social media for a new audience to appreciate.
Links to buy the book from Amazon are here or from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston click here
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.
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 expensive pieces is tomorrow but an online auction is going on now until the 23rd of June. I got to see a few pieces from her collection when visiting Christie’s a few weeks ago.
After getting a glimpse into her tastes and interests I found that even though her fashion style was not really my taste much of her jewelry was. I will highlight 3 designers from her New York auction and then look at her online jewels.
In March a small sample of her items were displayed to announce the upcoming auction in the summer at Christie’s. I glanced at some of her furniture and knick knacks and came across these beauties by none other than one of my favorite designers ever, Faberge!
Faberge
The Star Sapphire pendant and Chalcedony brooch in the center were the pieces I saw in person, my photos were not too good, but the Christie’s photos show some of the detail. A fun fact about Joan she was a Faberge collector! To Joan, Faberge is what came to mind when you thought about the ultimate luxury. Joan and her family were of Russian descent so it is not surprising for that to be an aspirational brand to own. Another set of Faberge pieces I loved seeing were the picture frames.
The frame to the left is of Joan and Melissa, the man in the center frame, any guesses? That is Vincent Price (Melissa’s godfather) and the woman is her godmother a Hollywood star that I did not find the name of. These photos are what was actually in the frames that Joan used. Why not? The history is an aspect Joan loved as well as the beauty. Christie’s found a record of the lavender pillbox below belonging to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, mother to Nicholas II the last Czar of Russia. Grandmother to Princess Anastasia for those that are familiar with the animated movie starring the voice of Meg Ryan.
The Lily of the Valley bowl to the left is the highlight of the Faberge collection in the exhibit. This rare carved nephrite stone designed with rose gold, pearls and diamonds is estimated to sell between $200,000-$300,000.
For more articles that I have written on Faberge click here.
Another designer Joan often wore was Iradj Moini. He is a fashion jewelry designer based in New York who has been in business since 1989. He had previously worked for Oscar De La Renta. His work was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006 for Iris Apfel’s exhibit. I had not heard of him but Joan seemed to enjoy his work.
One of the photos above shows Joan wearing the red beaded necklace on the far right.
I saw this necklace in the exhibit and had to know more…
This is a massive necklace all made with freshwater pearls. The center gem is a large amethyst surrounded by blue and orange topazes with diamonds. The designer Cesar Lim (Cezua was his nickname as a kid) graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. He started out in fashion design working at houses such as Anne Klein then transitioned into jewelry. He opened his first gallery in Beverly Hills, CA in 2009. That necklace is estimated to go between $3,000-$5,000.
Click here to go to Christie’s to see more of her private collection.
Online Auction
For those wanting a different style and a lower price point then check out Joan’s online auction. I was surprised again at her variety, online had more art nouveau, antique jewelry and chunky beaded necklaces.
See below for the antique and art nouveau pieces I found stunning.
These brooches range from high estimates of $1,500 to $6,000. The price is high but the quality and uniqueness is where the value in these pieces would be for me. Also the proceeds will go to charities Joan was involved with. To see more click here to be directed to her online auction. So go over to Christie’s and take a look at these treasures! Below are photos from the small exhibit I saw of her items. Please let me know your thoughts on this collection or Joan! Don’t hold back, you know Joan wouldn’t!
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 to express exactly the meaning your subject has on you. Events at Dorfman were not simple viewings; you were celebrating a new brand coming into the Dorfman family. Those in attendance were in some cases clients but were all friends and welcomed guests. I wrote about several events held at Dorfman’s in some of my past blog posts. I will mention the links if you would like to know more.
Events I attended were:
The reopening of Dorfman’s in the Fall of 2014. I entered the new store and all the designers or brand representatives were there to answer questions about their jewels and brand. The designers included Alexandra Mor, Mimi So, Agori, Gemlock and many others. Some of their pictures are below. This was also the first Alexandra Mor Boutique that opened.
April 2015, Fred Leighton had an event at Dorfman showing off jewelry worn by the stars. That article is here that I wrote on the event.
In the Fall of 2015, they hosted the newly made imperial egg created by the reestablished Faberge Company. The night was filled with beautiful music provided by a professional singer, a representative of Faberge to talk about the pieces in more depth and the jewelry that was available to purchase.
Other events included the new Atomo mini collection that Giorgio Bulgari came to show; Graff Diamonds shown in Dorfman’s, Pinks diamonds from the Angolo Mines of Austrailia (I remember the $1.2 million bracelet I tried on) and meeting Alexandra Mor. Gerard Riveron the former Creative Director at Dorfman’s first introduced Alexandra’s collection in 2012. I was fortunate enough to try on some of her beautiful and well-crafted pieces. It is one of the many qualities that Dorfman had that made it different from the rest. All the pieces were high quality, beautiful and wearable.
Good byes are hard to handle but they are even harder when you feel as though you do not have something to carry with you after it ends. That is why I hoped to leave with a piece from this amazing store and instead left with a story that involves fate. A quote I like is from Napoleon Bonaparte, ‘There is no such thing as accident; it is just fate misnamed.’ I got the news of Dorfman closing when I was home in the Midwest for Christmas. I got to the store after the New Year to find many of the pieces in my price range already sold (not that there were many options with my budget). I did see a light colored pear shaped pendant that I remembered from an event in the spring (Picture below from an event).
It was an A & Furst rose gold pendant with what was said to be a rose quartz. I was really hoping to buy that item but it was only 30% off. I can tell you I left a little down but I still had faith something might come up later. February came and I was planning to go back and say good-bye to the staff. I knew there had been more discounts but with Valentine’s Day, the odds were less in my favor of the pendant still being there. I walk in with a few small gifts and talked a moment to those workers that were there. I looked around the store again and was a little surprised to see the pendant at 50% off still on display. I asked to see the pendant again. The woman that took it out then proceeded to talk about the pendant and a strange occurrence with the piece.
The piece really was not supposed to be here. The story went another customer had looked at this pendant a few weeks ago. She liked it but wanted to think it over; when she returned to buy the pendant, it was gone. The woman telling me the story was the one to tell the woman if it was not out then it must have sold. A few days later same the woman returned looked around, asked about the pendant and left when she was told it was not here it must have sold. Well a little while after that the pendant resurfaced it had not sold but had somehow slipped underneath something that had it hidden. The store took it out and displayed it. The woman never returned but another customer came that was interested but wanted the stone to be amethyst not rose quartz so she declined. Then I came in. I liked it but was not thinking of making a purchase but the necklace was closer to my budget. I did say I would think about it and made sure they were open on President’s Day. I thought about the necklace the next day and decided to buy it Monday if it was there. As I was walking down Newbury Street that Monday morning still thinking of the necklace, I had a moment that felt a little like the scene from ‘When Harry Met Sally’. Harry (Billy Crystal) is alone in the cold thinking about what got him here and suddenly has a moment of clarity where the viewer sees flashbacks of him and Sally (Meg Ryan). The viewer knows what Harry just realizes and puts so eloquently to Sally when he sees her, “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible”.
I was not buying just a pendant I was buying memories that were something I would keep forever. I got to the store and the pendant was still there. I took one more look and saw more than what was in front of me. I saw six years of happy moments from a store with the best quality and kindest staff I had ever met. I bought the A & Furst pendant and became a client of Dorfman Jewelers. On the train ride back, I took out my receipt to see what the description had. The stone is a Rose de France. I looked it up and saw it is in fact an amethyst but is so light a shade of purple it is not considered as valuable as the deeper hued amethyst people are familiar with. So looking back, I think it was a story of fate. As hard as it is to imagine Newbury Street without Dorfman Jewelers, there is a quote I found comforting. ‘How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard’~A.A.Milne
Thank you for the many wonderful experiences Dorfman! For those familiar with the store I would love to hear your stories in the comments. I hope you visit my blog again soon!
Below are a few more photos from the pieces in the final store inventory:
Alexandra Mor Ring
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