I’m beyond honored to have been a recent guest on Sharon Berman’s extraordinary Jewelry Journey podcast. What a treat to talk with Sharon about all things having to do with Russia’s rich jewelry history. We had a fantastic conversation and I’m so thrilled to share the episode with you! LISTEN RIGHT HERE Here’s just […]
Category: Beyond Fabergé
Book highlights
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Russian Gold Pen by Friedrich Köchli, St. Petersburg, 1890s
I bought this pen not knowing who made it. I knew it was Russian and that it was made before the Revolution. It had the right look, feel and heft, with a wonderful rose gold patina. I picked it up, pretended to sign a document with it and I knew one thing: I had to […]