Tag Archives: Harry Winston

BOOK REVIEW: Spectacular Gems and Jewelry from the Merriweather Post Collection

Spectacular Gems and Jewelry from the Merriweather Post Collection

Liana Paredes

Published by GILES in association with Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
PRICE — UK£29.95 / US$39.95
ISBN — 978-1-907804-92-2

Marjorie Merriweather Post is well-known as a collector of Russian and French Decorative Arts but what is less appreciated is the collection of jewellery she amassed over the decades. This ranges from historic pieces such as the diamond earrings believed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, a diadem and necklace owned by Napoleon’s wife the Empress Marie Louise and an emerald which belonged to the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (a carpet thought to have been owned by him adorns the dining room floor at Hillwood). Alongside such gems add pieces by Cartier – she was their best American customer –, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, David Webb and Fulco di Verdura and you get a marvellous insight to jewellery design and fashion in the first six decades of the 20th century. Flowers, birds, figures, domestic objects all provided inspiration for brooches and bracelets – Mrs Post had a diamond-set brooch in the form of her legendary yacht ‘The Sea Cloud’ and another in the form of her turboprop airplane ‘The Merriweather’.

Turquoise, diamond and platinum necklace by Harry Winston 1961

This is a detailed and highly enjoyable look into this outstanding collection of jewellery and is well-illustrated throughout, including designs and pictures of Mrs Post wearing various pieces. It combines jewellery design and social history in a way that emphasises that Mrs Post’s life was indeed spectacular!

An accompanying exhibition is on at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens until 7th January 2018

 

https://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/Spectacular-Gems-and-Jewelry

gilesltd.com

Fit for a Queen

The Private Collection of Joan Rivers, Christie’s New York, 22nd June 2016; Online Auction 16th – 23rd June 2016

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‘Joan’s apartment was a reflection of the true Joan: warm, elegant and truly inviting’ is how the celebrity event designer Preston Bailey described this private world of a much-loved entertainer.

Lot 15 PRIVATE & ICONIC New York, Rockefeller Plaza Jun 22, 2016 A FRENCH TERRACOTTA BUST OF A WOMAN Price Estimate: 2,000 - 3,000 U.S. dollars

Lot 15
PRIVATE & ICONIC
New York, Rockefeller Plaza
Jun 22, 2016
A FRENCH TERRACOTTA BUST OF A WOMAN
Price Estimate: 2,000 – 3,000 U.S. dollars

Now the contents are being auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds going to the HIV/Aids charity God’s Love We Deliver and to Guide Dogs For The Blind. The latter reflecting her great love of dogs.  Some two hundred lots will be in the June 22nd auction with many items from her home eloquently reflecting her connoisseurship, wit and elegance.  The latter being especially obvious in her costumes – some by Bob Mackie – and in her jewellery by celebrated makers including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston, some of which are being sold in the online auction 16th – 23rd June.

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She was, as many of you may know, a collector of Fabergé and in the words of Geoffrey Munn, Wartski’s director and author of the recent volume on the firm’s history ‘Joan’s connoisseurship was informed and intuitive’. ‘She was conscious of the importance of provenance.’

Lot 156 PRIVATE & ICONIC New York, Rockefeller Plaza Jun 22, 2016 A SET OF ELEVEN ITALIAN PORCELAIN DINNER PLATES AND A SET OF TWELVE DRESDEN PORCELAIN PLATES Price Estimate: 600 - 800 U.S. dollars


Lot 156
PRIVATE & ICONIC
New York, Rockefeller Plaza
Jun 22, 2016
A SET OF ELEVEN ITALIAN PORCELAIN DINNER PLATES AND A SET OF TWELVE DRESDEN PORCELAIN PLATES
Price Estimate: 600 – 800 U.S. dollars

I will leave the last word on her home to the great lady herself who once said that it was ‘where Marie Antoinette would have lived if she had money’.

Joan_Rivers_01

 I think she got that right!

 

Lot 134 PRIVATE & ICONIC New York, Rockefeller Plaza Jun 22, 2016 AN ASSORTED GROUP OF JOAN RIVERS' TABLE LINENS Price Estimate: 500 - 800 U.S. dollars

Lot 134
PRIVATE & ICONIC
New York, Rockefeller Plaza
Jun 22, 2016
AN ASSORTED GROUP OF JOAN RIVERS’ TABLE LINENS
Price Estimate: 500 – 800 U.S. dollars

 

http://www.christies.com/joanrivers

Watch Fair

Salon QP – Fine Watch Exhibition, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York Square, London SW1, 12th – 14th November 2015

Georg Jensen, KOPPEL Date, 32mm (ladies)

Georg Jensen, KOPPEL Date, 32mm (ladies)

Some eighty exhibitors are taking part in this special watch fair that brings the very best of watch design to London, including fair newcomers the leading designers Jaime Hayon and Marc Newson.

NOMOS Workshops

NOMOS Workshops

Among special exhibitions are Inside a Second which as the name suggest is devoted to historic chronographs and Gems of Time: The Art of Colour which is a celebration of the long-held idea of watches as jewellery with pieces by Harry Winston, Bulgari, Piaget and Jaeger-le-Coultre.

Bremont Jaguar MKII

Bremont Jaguar MKII

SalonQP.com