The New York Antique Jewelry and Watch Show

- FEATURE New York City
The New York Antique Jewelry and Watch Show
by Mary Ann Brown
A
ttending the New York
Antique Jewelry and
Watch Show, held at the
Metropolitan Pavilion in New
York City on July 25-28, and
viewing the myriad offerings
was quite an experience—a colorful, shiny, dazzling one. I can
hear the R.E.M. song now, as
I think back on all the “shiny
happy people” where the “gold
and silver shine.” I have to
admit, I was overwhelmed.
Attendance was up 3% at the
show this year. I asked Mary
Curtis, U.S. Antique Shows’
public relations manager, what
she attributed the increase to,
and she answered in an e-mail:
“We’ve expanded both our digital marketing campaign and our
advertising with major publications like the New York Times.
“We’ve also seen a renewed
interest in antique and vintage jewelry that can be partly
attributed to the Hollywood
A-listers, socialites, and musicians donning these pieces on
the red carpet.”
Curtis quoted Hugo Foutermann of Windsor Jewelry, who
had noted after the show, “There
has been a renewed interest in
estate jewelry. The American
market seems to be getting stronger and stronger.”
She also quoted Dan Darby,
Emerald Expositions’ vice president and U.S. Antique Shows’
group show director, who said,
“In just seven years, the New
York Antique Jewelry & Watch
Show has established itself as a
must-attend event in the heart of
Chelsea.”
The show hosted 120 exhibitors of antique jewelry and
watches representing all eras
of jewelry history. There were
also contemporary offerings
of “highly sought-after collections from elegant global brands
such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co.,
David Webb, Harry Winston,
Patek Philippe, and Van Cleef &
Arpels.”
Curtis’s favorite aspect of this
year’s show “was the diversity
of merchandise and attendees.
Luxurious pieces featuring colored diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, jadeite, pearls, and more
populated the aisles….The show
annually attracts antique jewelry
aficionados, seasoned collectors,
fashion trendsetters, well-known celebrities,
and socialites.”
She quoted dealer Ken Leach of Gallery 47 as
an example, “I return to the New York Antique
Jewelry & Watch Show each year because of
the diversity of clients. I go to shows where I
know I’m going to sell just Victorian or sell just
retro pieces, but at the New York show, there’s
such a wide variety of clientele from all around
the world—I take all my merchandise.”
Lenore Dailey, LLC, Fremont, Michigan
It was Lenore Dailey’s first time exhibiting
at this venue. When we spoke on Sunday, she
Lenore Dailey said this Georgian seed pearl, emerald, pink topaz, and yellow gold necklace, with foiled
pink topaz, pearls, paste green stones and the original
woven chain, had beautiful cannetille work. Her “best
price” for the necklace was $3950. Photo courtesy
Lenore Dailey, LLC.
Lenore Dailey (right) showed a client a number of items,
while Rein Kallenbach assisted another customer.
This Stuart crystal brooch is
faceted all over the top and has
twisted gold wire with engraving
around the sides. The initials “A
B” were applied upon a bed of
hair, surrounded by a pink foil
and twisted wire design. It was
priced at $2000. Photo courtesy
Lenore Dailey, LLC.
This beautiful circa 1825 natural emerald and rose-cut diamond ring, with diamonds set in silver and mounted in gold,
has a lovely scrolled shank and came with
a period box. It was priced at $4200 by
Lenore Dailey, LLC.
This 1690-1700 Stuart crystal with a hand-painted
miniature European portrait of a dashing man in a
white wig on the front and a slide on the back, where
a black velvet ribbon would have threaded through,
was priced at $1900. Photos courtesy Lenore Dailey,
LLC.
Viewing the myriad
offerings was quite an
experience—a colorful,
shiny, dazzling one.
said it had been a really good show, and that
she was thrilled to see so many new customers.
She’d met “absolutely delightful people—diehard collectors” and reported that they had all
good days, sales-wise, and consistent Friday
business.
Being in the presence of people who are doing
something they love is a sweet place to be.
Dailey is an enthusiastic collector who enjoys
meeting clients, the history of the jewelry,
and running a profitable business. Her mother
and grandmother were also lovers of antique
jewelry, so it runs in the blood. She has been
selling antique jewelry for over 25 years, and
specializes in Victorian, Art Nouveau, memento
mori, Georgian, Edwardian, Arts and Crafts, Art
Deco, and retro.
When Dailey was busy with customers, I
spoke with her fiancé, Rein Kallenbach, who
has been in the jewelry business for over 30
years and works with her at shows. He said,
“New York is going to be a good market for
us and our antique jewelry. New York is a very
sophisticated and cultured market for fine arts
and antiques, and there’s more of an appreciation for antique pieces here.”
After the show, Dailey e-mailed that it had
been a very good show for them. “One of the
things that I really enjoyed was the number of
‘young’ collectors that I had the pleasure of
talking to who really love Georgian and Victorian jewelry.”
For contact information and a schedule of
shows she and Kallenbach will be attending (as
well as photos of jewelry for sale), go to Dailey’s informational Web site (www.antiquejew
elryusa.com).
Bell & Bird, Austin, Texas
Dailey introduced me to Cyrus and Rhianna
Shennum, who have the kind of enthusiasm,
energy, and youth that adds a positive vibe to
the business.
The Shennums are the proprietors of Bell &
☞
This 1722 memento mori Stuart crystal, with skull and crossbones under
crystal on the back and with the inscription “J. Bury obit/ Sep 15 1722”
was tagged $2600. Photos courtesy Lenore Dailey, LLC.
Maine Antique Digest, October 2014 17-D
- FEATURE Bird. This was their first time exhibiting
at this show. Cyrus said they’d “shopped
it many times before and had met some
new clients and made good relationships
with other dealers,” which is why they
decided to exhibit this year.
The Shennums focus specifically in
works of the 18th and 19th centuries,
18th-century paste, and unusual materials, such as steel and big diamond earrings, which Rhianna said, “can be a good
and bad thing for these shows. If people
like that, they can spend an hour here.”
There was a lot of interest in their jewelry here. Cyrus said they were having a
good show and meeting new clients. He
noted that the strong camaraderie among
show exhibitors was important to them.
Sales of middle-market merchandise have
been slower, according to Cyrus, but “true
diamond pieces or collectible categories—paste and steel, big natural stones—
that part of the market is very active.”
He mentioned, “The summer is slow in
the jewelry business, so it’s nice to have
some energy—energy begets energy.”
After the show, I communicated with
the Shennums and their community and
Web coordinator/photographer, Sarah
Murphy, to confirm descriptive information that I’d missed and to replace some
of the photos I took at the show. (The
lighting was great for the display of jewelry but challenging for photography.)
Rhianna wrote, “It was a positive experience, and we would do the show again.
NYC has well-informed and sophisticated
antique shoppers. We met a number of
collectors who are new to us and we look
forward to seeing them again the next
time we are in New York.”
Bell & Bird is very interested in buying historical jewelry of the 18th and 19th
century and can be contacted at <info@
bellandbird.com.> Visit their Web site
(www.bellandbird.com) to see their collection of offerings.
Camilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd., New
York, New York
Camilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd. sells fine
antique, period, and estate jewelry, and its
home base is on Madison Avenue.
Gus Davis is the business partner of
Bergeron. He was working with associates Alex Shriner and Marcella Ciceri
when I stopped for a brief interview.
This late Georgian or early Victorian hair comb
with natural citrines also converts to a tiara.
The top is gold filled, and the bottom is gold
over silver, with unidentified European hallmarks. It was priced at $2300. Lenore Dailey,
This 1880s Victorian articulated pin or LLC.
brooch with diamond pansy petals has,
according to Dailey, “bi-dimensional petals with a moonstone center surrounded
by diamonds—a combination of rose-cut
and old European-cut diamonds…. At one
time, it had an attachment for a pendant
or pin, and could be worn in the hair or
as a brooch.” Brooches of this time period
would relay messages from the giver to the
recipient. Dailey explained, “The pansy, in
the language of flowers, is the way to let a
woman know you are thinking of her.” It
was priced at $7500. Lenore Dailey, LLC.
When I asked if I could photograph something antique for Maine Antique Digest,
Davis said, “We’ve sold quite a few of
the antique pieces already. We cover the
gamut from less-expensive to higher-end
pieces. We go from one extreme to the
other.” He noted, “The prices are strong
for the signed, more important pieces.”
When I asked Davis if he was buying from other dealers, he said that he
was, but, “It’s difficult to buy because
the prices have been very strong.” I said
that I often cover auctions, and the auction prices seem high, too, with many
items going well above their estimates.
He agreed that this has an impact on the
dealers.
Alex Shriner said in a post-sale e-mail
that “sales were good” at the show. She
thought the highlight of the show for their
company was “being able to work with
some of the retailers we were not able to
see in Las Vegas.” (She’s speaking of the
Las Vegas Antique Jewelry and Watch
show held May 29 to June 1 in Las Vegas,
Nevada, also produced by U.S. Antique
Shows.) The size of the New York show
(which, at 120 exhibitors, was considered
This German portrait miniature, mounted in gold, came in its own carrying case. On
the back are symbols of love and constancy, accented with hair art. It was tagged $1375.
Photos courtesy Lenore Dailey, LLC.
Cyrus Shennum of Bell & Bird showed me this 1860s English
diamond Maltese cross pendant mounted in silver and gold, in
its original box, priced at $68,000. Bell & Bird.
Lenore Dailey and her fiancé, Rein Kallenbach, are
happy in their element. Kallenbach has been in the
jewelry business for over 30 years and works with
Dailey at the shows. Lenore Dailey, LLC.
Cyrus Shennum said that in Napoleonic wartime, jewelry was made in steel. This 1800-05 necklace with its “soft
bow, hard shape, and hard coldness of material is probably
French. It’s a really unusual piece.” It was tagged $1850. Bell
& Bird.
This Queen Anne aquamarine
blue paste stone necklace was
priced at $18,000. Photo courtesy
of Bell & Bird.
18-D Maine Antique Digest, October 2014
small), made it easier for the retailers to
spend time with one another, catching up,
and doing business.
For more about this firm, visit the Web
site (www.cdbltd.com).
Coming Up Next
Curtis promised, “In 2015, we plan to
grow the show by adding more booths to
the show floor. Attendees will be able to
see a wider variety of merchandise at the
same great price.”
U.S. Antique Shows produces nine
shows nationally. The Miami Antique
Jewelry & Watch Show will be held
November 7-9, 2014, at the Miami Airport Convention Center, which is a new
location for 2014. They also produce the
Pier Antique Show, coming up November 22 and 23 at Pier 94 in New York
City. Curtis said the Pier show “will feature more than 400 exhibitors of quality
antique furniture, jewelry, decorative and
fine arts.”
See the Web site (www.usantique
shows.com) for a full schedule of upcoming shows and further information on
attending and exhibiting.
The Shennums were offering
this Continental (French, Italian, or Spanish) necklace from
the last quarter of the 18th century with rubies and diamonds
set in silver, in its original case,
for $48,000. Bell & Bird.
This Black, Starr & Frost diamond ring was “SI1
GIA,” according to Cyrus Shennum. He was showing it to serious buyers while I was taking photos
at the Bell & Bird booth. It sold at the show. Bell
& Bird.
- FEATURE -
The Victorian turquoise and gold snake locket necklace (left) was
$4500, and the early 20th-century paste necklace was $1350. Photo
courtesy Bell & Bird.
There was a selection of antique rings, mostly wedding rings,
in the box on the left. They included a Victorian white enamel
mourning ring, $1450; French gold and turquoise enamel ring,
$1150; Georgian garnet eternity band, $1850; Georgian rosecut diamond band, $2400; Georgian five-stone ring (aquamarine, topaz and beryl stone), $3200; Georgian
rose-cut diamond band, $2550; Victorian
pearl half hoop band, $1150; Georgian
seven-stone old mine-cut diamond
band, $2400. In the center, a French
bone and rose-cut diamond skull
pin was $4000. In the box on the
right were an Edwardian diamond heart ring, $55,000; Art
Deco diamond ring, not priced;
Art Deco sapphire and diamond ring, $65,000; Art Deco
platinum two-stone diamond
ring, $46,500; and French old
mine-cut diamond ring, $16,500.
Photo courtesy of Bell & Bird.
This 1970 David Webb carved jade,
Gus Davis of Camilla Dietz
black enamel, and diamond ring
Bergeron, Ltd. showed me this
retailed for $22,500. Photo courtesy
“pretty piece,” a pearl, platiCamilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd.
num-topped gold, and diamond
brooch “from about 1905” that
was priced at $27,500. Photo
courtesy Camilla Dietz
Bergeron Ltd.
Doors with the show’s graphics welcomed
the public at the Metropolitan Pavilion on
West 18th Street in Chelsea, New York City.
This 18k yellow gold, platinum,
emerald, and diamond cluster ring,
19th century with a 1950s addition,
set with a cushion-shaped step-cut
emerald, encircled by a row of old
mine-cut diamonds, with a later
addition of another circle of round
brilliant-cut diamonds, sold at the
show. Photo courtesy Camilla Dietz
Bergeron Ltd.
Cyrus Shennum (left) is shown with a customer who perused
the jewelry at the Bell & Bird display and also showed them a
piece he had for sale.
Cyrus Shennum remarked, “The colors are so vibrant, electric,
and otherworldly” in this 18th-century agate girandole drop
necklace. This is one you’ve got to see in color, in the digital edition. The price was $16,500. Photo courtesy Bell & Bird.
The crowded aisle.
Rhianna Shennum is shown with a customer to whom
she had shown several items, while Cyrus Shennum
wrote an invoice.
Gus Davis spoke with me, while Alex Shriner and Marcella
Ciceri (with her back to the camera) were busy with clients
when I stopped for a brief interview. Camilla Dietz Bergeron
Ltd.
One of the potential clients at the Camilla Dietz Bergeron
Ltd. display looked through a loupe while Marcella Ciceri
assisted. This was a common sight at the show—a quick
draw of the loupe!
Maine Antique Digest, October 2014 19-D