A SUPERB ART DECO DIAMOND TIARA, BY CARTIER LONDON

Composed of five graduated shield shaped clips, each tapered brilliant and baguette-cut diamond panel raised on the similarly-set diamond frame, Cartier London circa 1930 - Sold for $428,650

A SUPERB ART DECO DIAMOND ROCK CRYSTAL NECKLACE, BY CARTIER PARIS

Composed of graduated links of diamonds and rock crystal, tapering to a front motif set with a highly important octagonal cut diamond, circa 1930 - Sold for $416,000

A SUPERB ART DECO DIAMOND BRACELET, BY CARTIER

Designed as geometric pave and single stone set links joined by intersections set with three diamonds to an open buckle clasp, circa 1928 - Sold for $470,500

Images Courtesy of Christie’s Images

Related Posts:

• The Three Blind Mice
• The Vladimir Fabergé Treasures – Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
• Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn Fetches $100,000
• The Prince, Cartier and I

Queen Elizabeth celebrated her diamond jubilee on June 5th. Her Majesty wore a diamond brooch jokingly referred to in the royal family as “Granny’s Chips”.  Granny was the Queen’s  grand-mother, Queen Mary.

Cullinan lll and IV - Granny's Chips

The two diamonds making up this pin are the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV, two of several stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond in 1905. The Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa and presented to Edward VII on his birthday. The two stones cut from the diamond and used for ”Granny’s Chips” are a clear pear shaped stone of 94.4-carat and a 63.6-carat  cushion shaped stone. Queen Mary had these stones made into a brooch with the Cullinan III hanging from the IV. Queen Elizabeth II inherited the piece from her grandmother in 1953. The brooch is the most valuable brooch in the world with a value of over £50,000,000

However, please be amazed to know that ”Granny’s Chips” are worn here by Queen Mary under the bottom row of diamond rivieres she is wearing. Queen Mary ordered the Cullinan I 530.20 carat pear-shaped diamond and Cullinan II 317.40-carat cushion-shaped diamond to be temporarily removed from the Crown Jewels, so she could wear them mounted as a brooch as seen here on her devant -corsage to the opening of Parliament in 1910. No other Queen consort has ever looked more Imperial.

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

In France and Belgium the Pâtissier is a pastry chef who has completed a lengthy training process, typically an apprenticeship, and passed a written examination. Often found in partnership with a boulangerie, Pâtisseries are a common sight in towns and villages in France.

Why place a section about Pastries and Chocolates on a site devoted to jewelry and people?

Why not?

Jewels, chocolates and Pâtisseries have in common attractions such as indulgence and beauty.

The Japanese are great admirers of the finer things in life. Throughout the 1980s, it would have been hard not to have seen Japanese tourists in Europe avidly clicking away with their cameras at displays of Pâtisserie and chocolates.

As a self-confessed Pâtisserie-holic, and one with many years of experience and travel, I wish to share reviews and thoughts with readers of New York Jewelry Diary.

Over the coming months, I shall be reviewing Cafe Sabarsky, Maison du Chocolat, Tea and Sympathy, Dallmayr Munich, Ladurée, Dalloyau, Fortnum and Mason, Charbonnel et Walker and many more international venues.

By Clive Kandel

Café Sabarsky
1048 Fifth Ave. New York, NY, 10028
Within the Neue Galerie on the corner of 86th Street and 5th Avenue
http://www.neuegalerie.org/cafes/sabarsky

Café Sabarsky is the former dining room of the Grace Vanderbilt mansion which is now the home of the Neue Galerie.

Café Sabarsky

The setting is outfitted with period objects including Josef Hoffmann lighting fixtures and banquettes upholstered with 1912 Otto Wagner fabric. The atmosphere is based on the fin de siècle Kaffehaus, boasting authentic Viennese specialties and traditional pastries. Unless one is seated by a window on a banquette, tables are small and the bentwood chairs are uncomfortable.

The High Altar. Kuchen and so forth on display whilst cream cakes remain refrigerated.

The pâtisseries, Austrian kuchen, Sacher Torte and strudel are the best of their kind in New York. Having said that, I do not believe that Sabarsky has any real competition unless you want to make a comparison all the way down to the sugary bakeries on Arthur Avenue, Brooklyn.

Apple Strudel correctly made with strudel dough and breadcrumbs

Regular food is served but I only go to Sabarsky for my German-influenced pâtisseries fix. Best time to visit is when the museum is closed but the Café remains open. Two warnings. Out of some misguided sense of Viennese politeness, those visitors drinking one cup of tea and reading either the entire Bible or Baedeker’s Guide to the USA are not told to pay up and leave. If you don’t want a large dollop of schlag, you must tell the waiter that. I personally prefer to taste good cake without. Watch this space for reviews and guide on what is good to eat at Café Sabarsky.

Klimt torte, neatly stacked layers of hazelnut cake alternating with firm, bittersweet chocolate. One of my three favorites.

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

Cartier Belle Epoque Brooch, Christie's Images

Coming in installments…the amazing, shocking, confounding story of The Three Blind Mice, otherwise known as Fred Leighton, Ralph Esmerian and Merrill Lynch.

I last wrote here in December 2009. Since that date, the world of Jewelry in New York City has been moving at a tear away pace.

In December 2009 I posted a teaser on a story, ”The Three Blind Mice”, regarding the Ralph Esmerian Collection debacle. However, as I became privy to information that most people were not aware of, the story lost any amusement value.

A journalist reports facts whilst a writer can weave a tale. I feel that a factual and informative history is appropriate here, enhanced with historical references and illustrations.

As the finances backing the Ralph Esmerian Collection collapsed, the main creditor amongst others, Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital Inc , ordered the sale of  Esmerian collateral and assets.

”The Eye of a Connoisseur”, the original sale of the collection was scheduled at Christie’s for April 15th, 2008. Perhaps the star lot was the Empress Eugenie diamond bow stomacher made by Kramer of Paris in 1855 for the French Crown Jewels.

Ralph Esmerian's Van Cleef & Arpels ballerina brooch made in New York 1942

Surprisingly, a dramatic last minute – literally – court bid was successfully mounted by Ralph Esmerian, halting the sale. Francois Curiel , the head auctioneer was speechless as he was handed the court order to cancel the auction immediately.

There were cries of ”Shame!” from the ever-eager well known dealers ready to pounce on the treasures. That day all went home empty-handed, S.J.Phillips of London perhaps the most disappointed.

Soon after the canceled auction, The Louvre and Friends of the Louvre acquired the Empress Eugenie diamond bow stomacher in a private sale negotiated by Christie’s for almost $11 million against a sale estimate of $4-6 million.

A year later, Merrill Lynch won against the court’s decision to halt the sale and subsequently Christie’s mounted a new sale, now called “Rare Jewels and Objets d’Art: A Superb Collection 21st October 2009″ for the disposal of what was remaining from the original sale that was cancelled. Several items from the original sale had now been sold elsewhere.

Ralph Esmerian's Art Deco Mauboussin Paris vanity case belonged to the French world famous pre-war dancer and chanteuse Mistinguett

The Ralph Esmerian business further unfolded and now a bankruptcy court administered the disposal of assets. Dealers who seemed to have entree to the trustees empowered to sell the jewels offered trays of assorted jewelry, objet d’arts, rare intaglios and outstanding rarities were. Soon the jewels were spread amongst international dealers and auction houses.

It proved to be a boost to a lacklustre period in the jewelry trade, still recovering from bank meltdowns and Madoff fallout.

 I feel that a factual and informative history is appropriate here, enhanced with historical references and illustrations. Over the next few months, I shall be adding images and the relevant history to the identified pieces where possible.

Ralph Esmerian's Cartier Citrine Mystery Clock featured in the first known article on Cartier Art Deco in Connaissance des Arts April 1974

Images Courtesy of Christie’s Images and Clive Kandel Collection

Related Posts:

• Three Cartier Diamond Jewels
• The Vladimir Fabergé Treasures – Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
• Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn Fetches $100,000
• The Prince, Cartier and I

Opening of the new gallery

In May 2008, the V&A opened its newly modernized jewelry gallery named after William and Judith Bollinger, who provided the financial assistance to make this possible.

William Bollinger is the retired co-founder and a limited partner of the hedge fund Egerton Capital LP. His wife, Judith, oversaw the merger of ABG Securities with Sundal Collier in 2001.They both  are based in London and are involved in many philanthropic causes.

The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery

Eva Jiricna Architects Limited, London, UK,  won the competition to design the new  gallery that would house the newly expanded collection, that included as many as 400 pieces from the Patricia Goldstein collection.

The showcases are lined in the colour of a very deep red, evoking the rich lining of a precious jewellery box, and also a reminder of the Victorian period during which the Museum was constructed.

A Lecture with Clive Kandel

Patricia Goldstein (1930-2002) was a lifelong New Yorker who combined the passion of a collector with the knowledge of a dealer. She bought her first 19th-century locket at the age of 15. After many years of collecting jewellery, she was persuaded by her husband, Bernie, and her step-mother to set up in business in 1968 as a dealer. She brushed up her French at the Alliance Francaise in New York, and from then until 1986 her visits brought her annually to Europe. She wore two small enamelled American flags on the lapel of her blazer, sustained herself on bananas stuffed into the pockets of her Burberry, and became a familiar face to many dealers in France, Belgium and Britain. At auctions she was a formidable opponent, sitting ramrod straight with her bidding paddle up, ready to take on anyone. In September 2001, following Bernie’s death, and knowing she was terminally ill, she asked a friend, Clive Kandel, a generous donor to the V&A, to make the first approach to the Museum on her behalf. She subsequently wrote offering her collection, explaining that every one of her trips to Europe had “included a visit to the V&A’s jewellery galleries, where I would wander for an hour or two in blissful serenity”. Her wit and determination were in no way diminished by the pain of her final illness, and she completed the arrangements to give her jewels to the American Friends of the V&A a few days before her death in February 2002. Courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum London.

Patricia Goldstein 1930-2002

Patricia Goldstein’s collection has taken over 10 years to catalog, and has offered the Museum’s collection many examples of 20th century jewelry that it had lacked. Although the Goldstein collection was rich in fine antique jewelry, Patricia started collecting many rare fine examples of Art Deco to late 1950′s jewels  in the  mid 1970′s until as recently as a month before her death. A diminutive figure, Pat Goldstein frequently wore different period pieces at the same time – the outsized 1930′s Chaumet bangle ( see V&A banner) would be on one wrist, whose hand would have a Georgian diamond emerald ring entwining a size 4 finger. Whilst the other wrist could be wearing a Patek Philippe watch, and the middle finger carrying a Van Cleef & Arpels baguette diamond ‘Rouleau’ ring from 1937. Furthermore, at the same time she could be seen wearing Cartier Paris gold diamond 1955 ear clips and an Imperial Russian diamond spray pin. Her clothes alternated between Brooks Brothers, L.L.Bean and Akris. Her shoes were Ferragamo, purses either Vuitton or Chanel. She was a highly intelligent woman with a self enjoyed notoriety for voicing her opinions. A chain smoker her whole life, she enjoyed nothing better than the company of men, with whom she felt most at ease.

By Clive Kandel
V&A Images Courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and Clive Kandel Collection

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

Alexandre de Paris prepares the famous Wallis hairstyle. Vintage Madame Gres from Didier Ludot. Jewelry by Clive Kandel. Perfume by Chanel.

The whole event was a brilliant and humorous spoof. My favorite shots are those of Wallis being coiffed by her famous Maître Coiffeur Alexandre de Paris and the ever-thin Wallis grabbing a lobster wearing Mizrahi’s copy of the famous Schiaparelli lobster dress made for Wallis Simpson.Working with Karl Lagerfeld was an enlightening experience. With kind permission of the New York Times. Courtesy of Didier Ludot, Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi, Bergdorf Goodman, Chanel and all jewelry by Clive Kandel for Magnificent Costume Jewelry.

Wallis as originally posed by Dorothy Wilding Wearing Peal & Lesage top and Clive Kandel jewelry.

The Dook is Questioned. Badgeley Mishka and Clive Kandel jewelry.	Wallis and pugs, accessories from Goyard and Clive Kandel jewelry.	The pugs and WE. Vintage Lanvin by Didier Ludot.
Mizrahi copy of Schiaparelli Lobster Dress and Clive Kandel Jewelry.Lobster Cuisine Hotel Ritz Paris.	Wallis as dressed by Mainbocher.	Wallis and Lagerfeld for Chanel. Place Vendome

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

The Jewels from the Estate of Lúcia Moreira Salles brought $5.9 Million, bringing a sales total of $30,582,751

Lúcia Moreira Salles was the muse for both Valentino and Coco Chanel, at one point working as Chanel’s exclusive house model. Among the top jewels of the collection were three exquisite gem stones mounted by revered Paris designer JAR – a Diamond “String” Ring set with an oval diamond weighing 16.04 carats, an Emerald and Diamond Ring, set with a cabochon Colombian emerald weighing approximately 27 carats mounted in platinum and purportedly formerly in the private collection of King Farouk of Egypt and sold to Salles by Pat Saling, the rare gem dealer, and a Ruby and Diamond Ring set with a sugarloaf cabochon Burmese ruby weighing approximately 16.30 carats.

My prediction was correct for the results of the two Cartier works of art formerly in the collection of Mrs. Cole Porter and Russian Princess Natalie Paley. The Egyptian-Style Jeweled Scarab Belt Buckle created by Cartier in Paris in 1926 sold for $302,500 and a Cartier Egyptian-Style Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Diamond, Black Onyx and Enamel Bracelet made in Paris and dating to 1929 totaled $242,500.

Cartier 'Aladdin' Art Deco Purse. Sotheby's Images

Lot 260, the 1920′s Cartier Paris “Aladdin” Model black enamel and diamond set purse, had originally belonged to the Ranee of Pudukota, and was sold by the Cartier collector and dealer Clive Kandel to Fred Leighton in 1981, who had it re-covered from the original black antelope to black alligator.

Images Courtesy of Sotheby’s Images

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

Sotheby’s London will be selling a collection of jewels formerly belonging to the Duchess of Windsor on November 30th.

This will be Round Two of an ongoing fight for those who desire to be associated with the ex-king and the woman who stole him from the hearts of his people.

There will be 20 lots in the sale, ranging from those of interest to royal memorabilia collectors to magnificent, well-known Cartier jewels.

The original sale took place during an era of public vulgar consumption and broke all records, and brought some financial and public disgrace. More about the public – and private – disgrace later on.

We shall soon see how 2010 values the Duchess’s jewels compared to 1987. That year seems like another age, which it really was. More about that as well later on.

Clive Kandel will be adding to this column as the days go by, so please do keep checking in.

Unlike the story of The Three Blind Mice, Clive Kandel feels quite unrestrained.

King Edward VII gave up the British Throne and country to marry the twice divorced American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson in 1936, making them the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. After this the Duke lived for The Duchess of Windsor. He adored her and gave her jewels for every occasion in their life together. Most jewels are larger than life, according to Wallis’ friend Lady Mosley.

On 30 November 2010 Sotheby’s London will sell 20 jewels from the Duchess of Windsor’s jewellery collection. 23 years after the much celebrated Sotheby’s Geneva auction of her jewels in 1987. This auction was a global event in prosperous times and the 214-piece collection fetched a record price of EUR 35 million, seven times the pre-sale estimate. Reflecting the 1987 rage today’s estimates are also completely over the top but will surely be paid. The total sale is expected to bring in around EUR 3 million.

On sale now are jewels that memorialize the most important moments in Edward and Wallis’ relationship. Wallis was greatly admired for her avant-garde style in fashion and jewellery alike. She combined simplicity with whimsy.

Many of the jewels were made by Cartier, two specifically by Cartier’s jewellery director Jeanne Toussaint, the Onyx and diamond panther bracelet designed in 1952, is one of the finest examples of the ‘great cats’ jewels of which the Duchess was an avid collector. The bracelet is expected to fetch 1,000,000-1,500,000 pounds . This articulated cat forms a “stalking pose” when closed around the wrist.

Jeanne Toussaint also created this exotic flamingo brooch, decorated with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, citrines, and diamonds which was bought by the Duchess in 1940. The flamingo brooch was bought for £498,000 in 1987 and is today estimated at £1m-£1.5m.

Another precious jewel is the diamond cross bracelet by Cartier, supporting nine gem-set Latin crosses, each marking significant events during the years 1934-44. The bracelet is expected to raise £350,000-450,000, while it fetched only £200.000 in 1987.

It is a very sweet; every cross has an inscription and a story to it, but not everyone believes Wallis & Edward were the greatest love story of the 20th century.

Sotheby’s David Bennett and historian Hugo Vickers, however, make a splendid presentation below.

Related Posts:

• No related posts.

“As our first jewelry sale of the fall season we are encouraged by the very solid results achieved.  The trends of the past few seasons certainly continue, with strong international interest in both stones and signed jewelry. We had spirited bidding for natural pearls, many of the signed period jewels, and especially for a 1930s Kashmir sapphire ring that soared to ten times its high estimate. The Harry Winston platinum and diamond pendant necklace featured on our catalogue cover closed the sale with an impressive price, over $1.25 million.

Of interest to New York Jewelry Diary were the following lots-

Lot 221 - Platinum, Diamond and Onyx Ring, Tiffany & Co., Circa 1925

Est. $25/35,000 – Sold for $65,500

Rare elegant Art Deco jewels by Tiffany jewels are rarely brought to market. This fine ring nearly doubled its estimate.

Lot 403 - 18 Karat Gold, Platinum, Amethyst, Turquoise and Diamond Necklace, Cartier, New York, 1949

Est. $30/40,000  -   Sold for $122,500

This necklace is very similar to that bought by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor from Cartier Paris in 1947.

Lot 468 - Gold, Emerald and Diamond Ring, Tiffany & Co., Circa 1915

Est. $50/70,000  -  Sold for $146,500

Another example of the scarcity of Tiffany & Co important period jewelry that more than doubled than the house estimate.

Lot 309 - 18 Karat Gold, Platinum, Rock Crystal, Diamond and Enamel Bracelet and Brooch, David Webb

Est. $40/60,000   -  Sold for $50,000

A perfect example of David Webb jewelry and the price reached is further proof of the steady rise in demand for iconic Webb jewels.

Images Courtesy of Sotheby’s Images

Related Posts:

• No related posts.