Living in Cambridge, my calves have never been firmer. After all, cycling is our sole means of transportation and everyone here has a bike and actually uses it. In fact, this city is the cycling capital of England. For riding, I’ve adopted a slightly forward tilted position, the better to dissuade others from barring my path. Because while the English…
Read More
Fond Memories of the Fontanka – March 2018
We’re just back from our Walking Tour of St. Petersburg Jewelers tour. This glorious city of the Russian tsars continues to yield a font of pleasant surprises and wonderful new discoveries. Fresh off the plane (quite literally for two of our guests) we shot off to the magnificent Yusupov Palace for our first private tour. The interiors were as impressive…
Read More
The Day Miss Universe Wore a Real Diamond Crown – from the Romanovs!
Did beauty pageant queens ever wear original diamond crowns? The tiaras seen today – large, bright, light and glitzy – look like anything but the real thing. Take for example the one Sandra Bullock threw across the room in Miss Congeniality. Granted that one was loaded with dynamite and made for Hollywood, but you get the picture. The first Miss…
Read More
When in England, Buy English
Living in Cambridge UK for the year, I come across the most incredible things – I mean, how can you NOT buy this stuff? While I’ve pursued French and Russian objets d’art in the past, it’s not so prevalent in England, so while I’m here, I can definitely say the English silver and jewelry has cast its spell on me…
Read More
Khlebnikov and Surviving the Melting Pot
When you consider the huge volume of silver and treasures that was melted down by the Bolsheviks in the wake of the Russian revolution of 1917, it’s a wonder any of it survived at all. In that tumultuous time, literally tons of silver faced the melting pot, from large-scale punch bowls, candelabra, commemorative trophies, processional icons, chargers and tea services…
Read More
Gems that Changed My Life
There I was gazing at the finest gems and jewels on the planet. I had landed a plum job as gemologist at Christie’s, the world-renowned auction house in New York. Working behind the scenes, hunched over a microscope, my role was to examine and test the world’s finest precious gems to make certain they passed muster – 20+ carat D…
Read More