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Jewelry We Love and Hate, with Gem X
28 Plays2 years ago
This week Ben speaks with three bigwigs of Gem X, an international club for jewelry aficionados. Founder Lin Jamison, Simon Teakle gallery director Christine Cheng, and returning Curious Objects guest Levi Higgs of David Webb discuss men in brooches, women in cuff links, and the fail-proof “smell test” for detecting real gold. These glitterati also have with them enchanting bijoux from their personal collections: a Van Cleef and Arpels Virgo pendant, Portuguese citrine and pearl brooch, and a pair of Flemish heart pendants.
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Transcript
The Significance of Jewelry
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Curious Objects brought to you by The Magazine Antiques.
00:00:13
Speaker
I'm Ben Miller.
00:00:14
Speaker
Jewelry can be among the very most intimate and personal of objects.
00:00:19
Speaker
It's made to be worn on your body.
00:00:22
Speaker
Often it's made out of the most precious materials from silver and gold to gemstones.
00:00:28
Speaker
And it's arguably the very oldest or certainly among the oldest categories of collectible with jewelry found in Neanderthal sites as far back as 115,000 years ago.
00:00:38
Speaker
So it's deep in our bones.
00:00:40
Speaker
And I want you, dear listener, to think for a moment about a piece of jewelry that you care about.
00:00:48
Speaker
Maybe it's a wedding ring.
00:00:49
Speaker
Maybe it's a pair of earrings you bought on a family trip or a necklace your mother gave you.
00:00:55
Speaker
It could be a pair of cufflinks that you pull out for a special occasion, or a belt buckle, or a tie pin.
00:01:02
Speaker
Maybe you're even wearing it right now.
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Speaker
So, now that you have that object in mind, think about where that piece came from.
00:01:11
Speaker
How you first encountered it, what you love about it, and above all, what does it represent for you?
The GemX Club's Mission
00:01:18
Speaker
Whatever that is, just keep that piece in mind as you listen to this episode, because today we're going to be talking all about personal connections with jewelry, how these objects can tell stories that transcend their period or style or maker and that connects us in the present to our own memories.
00:01:41
Speaker
And luckily, I have the perfect guest to do that with.
00:01:44
Speaker
I am joined today by three members of a club of jewelry enthusiasts called GemX.
00:01:50
Speaker
This is an organization dedicated to education and exploration of all things jewelry.
00:01:57
Speaker
It was founded back in 2017, the same year as Curious Objects, actually.
00:02:01
Speaker
And they host terrific events and talks and presentations.
00:02:06
Speaker
And first up is GemX's founder, Lynn Jameson.
Personal Jewelry Memories
00:02:09
Speaker
Hi, Lynn.
00:02:09
Speaker
Hey, Don.
00:02:10
Speaker
Nice to be here.
00:02:12
Speaker
Second is Christine Chang, a GemX Core member and director at the jewelry gallery, Simon Teagle.
00:02:18
Speaker
Welcome, Christine.
00:02:19
Speaker
Hi, great to be here.
00:02:20
Speaker
And last but not least, another GemX Core member who longtime listeners will remember, Levi Higgs, archivist at the jewelry firm David Webb.
00:02:29
Speaker
Levi first came to Curious Objects years ago to tell us about that illustrious company.
00:02:34
Speaker
Welcome back, Levi.
00:02:35
Speaker
Hey, thanks for having us.
00:02:37
Speaker
I'm so happy to have you all here.
00:02:39
Speaker
And each of you has a terrifically interesting piece to tell us about today.
00:02:42
Speaker
But let's help listeners get to know you first with a few rapid fire questions.
00:02:47
Speaker
Are you ready?
00:02:48
Speaker
We're so ready.
00:02:50
Speaker
Bring it on.
00:02:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:52
Speaker
What, and I want to start with you, Lynn.
00:02:54
Speaker
What is your first clear memory of a piece of jewelry?
00:02:59
Speaker
I love that question because my first memory of jewelry is...
00:03:04
Speaker
very, very vivid from the standpoint that I couldn't quite take it off of someone.
00:03:11
Speaker
It was my grandmother's jade bangle.
00:03:14
Speaker
And for those of you who know, in China, where I was born, jade bangles are given to women to ward off evil spirits and they wear them all the time.
00:03:25
Speaker
They're made so you grow into them.
00:03:27
Speaker
So they don't come off the wrist easily.
00:03:31
Speaker
Or at all, actually, as I found out.
00:03:33
Speaker
And I remember probably being four years old and she always had it on and I would spin it around her wrist a lot.
00:03:42
Speaker
And I always try and yank it off.
00:03:46
Speaker
And she thought it was hysterical, but it frustrated me to no degree.
00:03:50
Speaker
And when she passed a few years, she gave me the bangle that I still hold near and dear, but it is a memory that I will never forget for how special and personal jewelry can be.
00:04:04
Speaker
Wow, that's so precious.
00:04:06
Speaker
Christine, what's your earliest memory of jewelry?
00:04:09
Speaker
I do remember my first trip to London and going to the Tower of London and
00:04:15
Speaker
seeing the Royal collection, the crown jewels and being very impressed and not being able to move and just kind of taking it all in.
00:04:25
Speaker
So that's kind of my first big girl jewelry memory.
00:04:29
Speaker
How about you, Levi?
00:04:32
Speaker
I'm going to stick true to the very first thing that popped in my head when you asked this question and it's a little ridiculous, but stick with me.
00:04:39
Speaker
It's right around Halloween.
00:04:40
Speaker
So it's kind of topical.
00:04:42
Speaker
Um, the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, double, double toil and trouble, which is a witch themed movie.
00:04:49
Speaker
And the whole conceit of the movie is about this magical gemstone necklace that a witch has, it's called the moonstone.
00:04:56
Speaker
And it's this big glowing green gem that like traps people in the netherworld of the mirror.
00:05:02
Speaker
And it was very powerful.
00:05:03
Speaker
And it was the whole thing about the movie to like get the necklace and save the good witch that's been trapped.
00:05:08
Speaker
And I don't know, I think about jewelry a lot to the lens of fiction.
00:05:13
Speaker
And it's kind of funny that that was literally the thing that sprung to mind.
00:05:16
Speaker
But, you know, whether it's Indiana Jones, like grabbing jewels or Goonies with the gemstones in the bag at the very end, like it's kind of always been for me, movies and books and books.
00:05:31
Speaker
kind of the fantastical thing that comes to mind when I think of like first jewelry memories.
00:05:36
Speaker
All right.
00:05:37
Speaker
We're going to take this in the same order, starting with you, Lynn.
00:05:40
Speaker
What's the most valuable piece of jewelry you've ever touched?
Experiences with Valuable Jewelry
00:05:43
Speaker
So my big girl moment, borrowing Christine's words, was the Elizabeth Taylor auction preview.
00:05:52
Speaker
I think it was in Christie's.
00:05:55
Speaker
probably over 10 years ago now, but I was working at Wall Street at the time.
00:06:01
Speaker
So I remember having to sneak out during my like 33 minute lunch break, running over from Morgan Stanley to Christie's and begging them to let me hold like a piece of jewelry.
00:06:14
Speaker
And they sort of took pity on me because I just looked so desperate probably, but I did get to touch the Peregrina Pearl, which I,
00:06:24
Speaker
I think I saw after went for 11 and a half million or something.
00:06:30
Speaker
It was the most expensive pearl ever sold.
00:06:35
Speaker
And yeah, it was just so magical to sort of see it right there.
00:06:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:42
Speaker
Top that, Christine.
00:06:43
Speaker
it would probably be some like colored diamond, you know, some pink, big diamond.
00:06:50
Speaker
But, you know, recently I previewed the Sotheby's collection, the Austrian Royal Jewels.
00:06:57
Speaker
And so that certainly I'm sure once we get the results of those next week, something in there will be highly valuable, but.
00:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely getting up into the 750.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yes.
00:07:11
Speaker
How about you, Levi?
00:07:12
Speaker
The thing that sprung to mind was from a 2017 Sotheby's auction preview.
00:07:17
Speaker
It was the Donner's Mark diamonds.
00:07:19
Speaker
And there were two of them.
00:07:21
Speaker
It was like a big pear-shaped yellow and a big sort of cushion cut.
00:07:25
Speaker
And they were kind of a pear...
00:07:28
Speaker
And just having both of them in my hand at the same time, it like filled my entire poem with these antique diamonds that were just humongous.
00:07:36
Speaker
And it was kind of gobsmacking to me at that point to be like, wow, I'm fondling these humongous antique diamonds.
00:07:43
Speaker
And it felt very, I don't know, sort of powerful in that moment.
00:07:50
Speaker
And they sold for millions, but I don't know exactly where it rates on the scale of everything else I've ever touched.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker
Well, if you're not bidding on it, it's hard to remember exactly how much it went for.
00:08:03
Speaker
Right.
00:08:04
Speaker
Where should people wear jewelry that they usually don't?
00:08:08
Speaker
Oh, like a place or like somewhere on their body?
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:12
Speaker
Oh, I meant as a place, but if you want to talk about belly button rings, go for it.
00:08:17
Speaker
Well, the joke I always make is like, you know, if someone's wearing something fabulous and huge and it's got an interesting story or it's a huge diamond, I'm like, oh, you know, going to the grocery store, picking the kids up, like good for you.
00:08:31
Speaker
Like kind of making a joke about wearing something like that casually, but yeah.
00:08:35
Speaker
I guess I say, why not?
00:08:37
Speaker
If something's like really integral to your persona and what you want to wear and usually wear, then why not wear it everywhere?
00:08:45
Speaker
Grocery store is pretty good.
00:08:47
Speaker
I like that one.
00:08:49
Speaker
What's a mistake that you've made in the jewelry world that perhaps you regret or perhaps you learned something from?
Mistakes and Lessons Learned
00:08:57
Speaker
Too many to think of is more the line of
00:09:02
Speaker
I think I would say that because it came out of finance and into jewelry, I did look at jewelry through too much of a precious lens, I would say, in the beginning, where I didn't really appreciate that so much of what jewelry means to people is the story or the sentiment and the feeling.
00:09:28
Speaker
And I think in the beginning,
00:09:30
Speaker
It was really just like sticker shock from, wow, it costs that much.
00:09:34
Speaker
That really was my hurdle to get over.
00:09:39
Speaker
And I think that is true for a lot of people, too.
00:09:42
Speaker
We hear a lot of people who come to us through Jemak say, wow, there's just this intimidation factor with what jewelry can cost.
00:09:51
Speaker
And as a hurdle, you really have to dig to get over it and to realize that precious, quote unquote, in jewelry can
00:09:59
Speaker
both mean that it is an actual rare commodity or it can just mean it's a story that only you have or only you know or a gemstone that's so special because it has inclusions or something where it's not necessarily the monetary value.
00:10:15
Speaker
But I think I wish I had learned that sooner.
00:10:18
Speaker
And now that I do know that, it makes jewelry so much more interesting.
00:10:25
Speaker
I wouldn't say it's really a mistake, but I've definitely learned
00:10:29
Speaker
to not be so trigger happy on something.
00:10:32
Speaker
If I instantly have a, like, I need this, I want to buy this.
00:10:36
Speaker
Like I try to make myself sit on it for a good while just to like really think about it, make sure I actually want it.
00:10:43
Speaker
I've had a few things I've purchased that I,
00:10:46
Speaker
wanted really quickly, but then never wore or just sort of sat there.
00:10:51
Speaker
It satiated an immediate need, but then it was not actually something that I needed or utilized as much as I thought I would.
00:10:58
Speaker
So I suppose I've learned to build in the time to really seriously consider things that I will wear, won't wear, that kind of thing.
00:11:11
Speaker
Your belly button rang later.
00:11:13
Speaker
Exactly that.
00:11:14
Speaker
It never gets worn.
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, bear in mind, this is a G-rated podcast, so we're not going to go anywhere south of the belly button.
00:11:23
Speaker
But I'm curious what I asked about the most valuable jewelry that you've handled, but what about the least valuable or least expensive jewelry that you love anyway?
Sentimental over Financial Value
00:11:38
Speaker
I can start with this one.
00:11:41
Speaker
I try and always wear the necklaces that my kids make.
00:11:46
Speaker
And it varies from polymer clay to a seashell, not even with a drilled hole, but with like a hot gun attaching the piece of string to it or basically anything that catches their eye.
00:11:59
Speaker
But I love mixing it with
00:12:02
Speaker
things that maybe are a little more refined than that.
00:12:06
Speaker
And it always makes them happy to see it on.
00:12:10
Speaker
It's not a candy ring then.
00:12:14
Speaker
I was thinking ring pop, but you know, I'm not going to throw that in there as a potential.
00:12:21
Speaker
Too late.
00:12:21
Speaker
We've got that on tape.
00:12:24
Speaker
What's your favorite museum to visit?
00:12:27
Speaker
My favorite museum to visit is probably Noia Gallery, just because it's so intimate and beautiful.
00:12:33
Speaker
And it has kind of this, I don't know, allure of someone's home, at least on the first floor, once you get up there and it's all the wood paneling and the, you know, the hush of Fifth Avenue is sort of out there.
00:12:44
Speaker
They have a great Wiener-Werksstaat jewelry collection, which, you know, is great when it's on display.
00:12:50
Speaker
The cafe is wonderful.
00:12:52
Speaker
So there's a lot going for it.
00:12:54
Speaker
Any other competition?
00:12:55
Speaker
What are some good museums for looking at jewelry?
00:12:59
Speaker
The VNA, the Met has decent jewelry sort of sprinkled all around.
00:13:05
Speaker
The Museum of Arts and Design has all the drawers of jewelry and the Musée d'Art Decoratif in Paris has a tremendous jewelry gallery.
00:13:14
Speaker
I love their Art Nouveau display in Art Deco.
00:13:17
Speaker
It's absolutely killer.
00:13:19
Speaker
Don't forget the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre.
00:13:22
Speaker
Oh, thank you.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yes.
00:13:23
Speaker
right?
00:13:24
Speaker
At the Louvre with the Royal, the French crown jewels.
00:13:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:28
Speaker
Levi, you already preempted this question with your Mary-Kate and Ashley reference, but I'm curious what movie you think has the most interesting depiction of jewelry or TV show.
00:13:39
Speaker
Another answer I always talk about with jewelry and movies is vertigo because the necklace is literally the whole point of his like realization that it's, it was the same woman and it connects to the crime and, um,
00:13:51
Speaker
I don't know, the sort of flashbacks he has of like the painting and getting the necklace and wearing the necklace then with the black dress.
00:13:58
Speaker
Like it's just so good, this head rush moment.
00:14:01
Speaker
And it's a beautiful film anyway.
00:14:03
Speaker
So I always say vertigo.
00:14:05
Speaker
I'm going to go a little more lowbrow from that.
00:14:08
Speaker
But we recently just did this whole talk on jewelry in Bridgerton, which I absolutely love, the period of Georgian jewelry and paste jewelry and that these jewels were made to sit by candlelight and shimmer in the night.
00:14:27
Speaker
I went back and I used it as an excuse to rewatch all the Bridgertons.
00:14:32
Speaker
And now I've noticed that the jewelry in the last Queen Charlotte was made by Larkspur and Hawk, which is one of our favorite New York based
00:14:43
Speaker
jewelry companies with Emily Satloff.
00:14:46
Speaker
And I just love how she takes the era and she makes it modern into a modern day collection.
00:14:53
Speaker
And that it's featured on a very binge-worthy Netflix show is all the better.
00:14:59
Speaker
Love that.
00:15:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:02
Speaker
Are you ready for a round of overrated, underrated?
00:15:05
Speaker
Yes.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yes.
00:15:06
Speaker
All right.
00:15:07
Speaker
I'm just going to list a few things and you can tell me whoever speaks up first, whether it's overrated or underrated costume jewelry.
00:15:15
Speaker
Underrated.
00:15:16
Speaker
Underrated.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:18
Speaker
Definitely underrated.
00:15:20
Speaker
Why is costume jewelry underrated?
00:15:23
Speaker
Because there's such an art to it and it can be cheeky and fun and it doesn't have to be serious.
00:15:28
Speaker
And often in certain periods, costume jewelry is made just as well, if not better than fine jewelry.
00:15:34
Speaker
There's sort of a whole, I don't know, academia to it if you really wanted to get into it, like Miriam Haskell, Kent Shire sells great costume jewelry.
00:15:43
Speaker
There's a nice piece of costume jewelry at Shrub Soul.
00:15:47
Speaker
Oh, exactly.
00:15:47
Speaker
There you go.
00:15:48
Speaker
It's out there.
00:15:49
Speaker
You got to come see it.
00:15:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:51
Speaker
Buying at auction, overrated or underrated?
00:15:55
Speaker
I would say properly rated.
00:15:59
Speaker
A good answer.
00:15:59
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:00
Speaker
That's where my mind was going to.
00:16:03
Speaker
It's just rated.
00:16:05
Speaker
It's rated.
00:16:05
Speaker
Correctly rated.
00:16:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:07
Speaker
Ancient Roman jewelry.
00:16:08
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:16:11
Speaker
Overrated?
00:16:13
Speaker
No, I don't know.
00:16:14
Speaker
I think there's a lot of people who are referencing ancient jewelry these days, which I love.
00:16:18
Speaker
I think everyone who does it does it differently, and I like that.
00:16:22
Speaker
But maybe the actual ancient Roman jewelry that's on display in museums is sort of not what you'd want to wear and buy.
00:16:31
Speaker
It's nice to see it in a museum, but it's not like...
00:16:35
Speaker
wearable or collectible in the same way that these modern jewelers are doing the work.
00:16:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:43
Speaker
What about Masonic jewelry?
00:16:45
Speaker
Underrated if you're talking about Masonic lockets, like those are cool.
00:16:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:52
Speaker
I feel like if someone did a modern version of that, it would blow up and be like the new foundry or something.
00:16:57
Speaker
Don't, I mean, maybe they're going to take that idea.
00:16:59
Speaker
Who knows?
00:17:00
Speaker
But yeah.
00:17:01
Speaker
Well, now you can play royalties.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:17:04
Speaker
The little puzzle balls that unfold to a cross and then have the, you know, symbols.
00:17:10
Speaker
Those are cool.
00:17:11
Speaker
And we had one that was a star that was, you know, when it was folded up, it was just like a little cone.
00:17:18
Speaker
And then the,
00:17:21
Speaker
Once you unfolded it, it was a star.
00:17:22
Speaker
It was cool.
00:17:25
Speaker
I could definitely see that being spun off these days.
00:17:28
Speaker
All
Men Wearing Brooches: Trend or Statement?
00:17:32
Speaker
right.
00:17:32
Speaker
Next up, the Alhambra pattern from Van Cleef and Arpelt.
00:17:37
Speaker
I think it's a classic.
00:17:39
Speaker
I mean, you see it everywhere, but it's a classic for a reason.
00:17:43
Speaker
People look good in it.
00:17:44
Speaker
I'm going to say properly rated.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:17:48
Speaker
I think their variations are interesting enough that it keeps iterating and they don't look bad on anyone.
00:17:58
Speaker
I've seen everyone carry it off and they always do so well at auction.
00:18:02
Speaker
So properly rated.
00:18:05
Speaker
Right.
00:18:05
Speaker
Here's one for you, Levi.
00:18:08
Speaker
Men wearing brooches.
00:18:09
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:18:11
Speaker
I mean, hashtag the brooches back is, is still a thing.
00:18:16
Speaker
And Frank Everett's Sotheby's for the boys thing just happened.
00:18:20
Speaker
Like brooches are on trend.
00:18:22
Speaker
I I'm, I'm fine with men wearing brooches.
00:18:26
Speaker
I think it's overrated when people on like E red carpet coverage are like men wearing brooches.
00:18:32
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:18:33
Speaker
Like it's something new.
00:18:34
Speaker
I mean,
00:18:35
Speaker
it's maybe newly talked about and that's kind of annoying, but the actual act of a man wearing a brooch.
00:18:43
Speaker
Great.
00:18:44
Speaker
We love it.
00:18:45
Speaker
We love, love underrated.
00:18:48
Speaker
Underrated.
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah, definitely underrated.
00:18:52
Speaker
I just don't see that many brooches made in new collections.
00:18:56
Speaker
If you want to find brooches of good quality, you have to go vintage.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so I definitely say underrated because I think there's so much room for modern designers to really take brooches to another level.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, there's plenty of contemporary designers who don't even touch broaches as the category.
00:19:16
Speaker
And there's so many people who I would buy a cool broach from.
00:19:19
Speaker
So I don't know if there's a huge like client base and they're all women necessarily buying rings and bracelets and earrings, like they could buy their husband a broach for going out.
00:19:33
Speaker
Like, why not?
00:19:35
Speaker
Or it's the ultimate like shareable jewel because
00:19:39
Speaker
You can wear it one night.
00:19:40
Speaker
I can wear it one night.
00:19:42
Speaker
It's perfect.
00:19:43
Speaker
You can buy it for yourself through him.
00:19:49
Speaker
That's a handy trick.
00:19:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:51
Speaker
What about women wearing cufflinks?
00:19:54
Speaker
I mean, give me like a Marlena Dietrich moment and we can talk, but otherwise, meh, overrated.
00:20:03
Speaker
Overrated.
00:20:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:05
Speaker
Shots fired.
00:20:06
Speaker
I don't know.
00:20:06
Speaker
Anyone else?
00:20:07
Speaker
Come on, help me out here, ladies.
00:20:09
Speaker
I agree.
00:20:10
Speaker
I think I'd rather take a pair of cufflinks and make them into a pair of earrings just to elevate them a bit and wear them higher.
00:20:19
Speaker
I personally don't wear that many cuffed shirts and I'm always jealous of seeing the cufflinks display at jewelry stores because there's so much cufflinks
00:20:30
Speaker
good spines and high quality jewels in there that people aren't going for.
00:20:35
Speaker
So I would say underweighted from the sense that women need to find other ways to wear them besides just as cufflinks.
00:20:45
Speaker
I'm on board with like buying cufflinks and turning them into something else like little stick pins or a ring or earrings.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:51
Speaker
Totally.
00:20:53
Speaker
Can we just like build a tiara that you can stick to cufflinks through at the top or something?
00:20:58
Speaker
Perfect.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:01
Speaker
Tiara frame built to receive pairs of cufflinks.
00:21:06
Speaker
All right.
00:21:06
Speaker
You heard it here first, folks.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:10
Speaker
And we'll be back with Lynn, Christine, and Levi in just a moment to hear about some pieces that they have had special personal relationships with.
00:21:18
Speaker
First, just a couple of reminders.
00:21:20
Speaker
I always try to mention how helpful it is to leave Curious Objects a rating, and I know it probably sounds repetitive at this point, but it does really make a difference.
00:21:29
Speaker
It's incredibly quick and easy to do, but it helps me out a lot.
00:21:33
Speaker
So now would be the perfect time to do that.
00:21:36
Speaker
I mean, if you're driving, maybe wait until you're stopped.
00:21:39
Speaker
I don't want you to crash.
00:21:40
Speaker
But if you're cooking or riding the subway, not sure about you, but that's usually when I listen to podcasts.
00:21:45
Speaker
Maybe just take a second to go into your podcast app and give Curious Objects a generous five stars or even write a few words about why you enjoy the show.
00:21:54
Speaker
Thank you.
00:21:54
Speaker
Thank you.
00:21:55
Speaker
Thank you.
00:21:57
Speaker
We have images, of course, as we always do at themagazineantiques.com slash podcast.
00:22:02
Speaker
And you can reach me on Instagram at Objective Interest or via email at curiousobjectspodcast at gmail.com.
00:22:11
Speaker
I love reading your emails and I'm proud to say that I almost always respond.
00:22:15
Speaker
So keep those coming.
Personal Stories Behind Jewelry
00:22:20
Speaker
Now, I am so interested to hear from the three of you.
00:22:22
Speaker
You've each chosen a single piece to talk about, and these are all quite different.
00:22:27
Speaker
And I think you each relate to them in different ways as well.
00:22:31
Speaker
So why don't we start with you, Lynn?
00:22:32
Speaker
And first off, for listeners who can't look up a picture right now, maybe they're driving, what does your piece look like?
00:22:41
Speaker
What is it and what does it look like?
00:22:43
Speaker
So the piece I chose to talk about is a brooch, which is one of our underrated jewelry categories.
00:22:51
Speaker
It is a citrine brooch, which actually I think citrine is one of the most underrated gemstones too, that is categorized as semi-precious.
00:23:01
Speaker
At the gem shows, you sort of see them like in huge quantities and most of them are not of great quality, but the really beautiful ones are very saturated.
00:23:12
Speaker
They have this autumnal hue that reminds me of like a nice mug full of apple cider.
00:23:19
Speaker
And earlier this year, Gem X, we had a member who works in the Portuguese Royal Treasury and he invited us to Lisbon.
00:23:30
Speaker
to take a tour with him of the jewels of Portugal.
00:23:34
Speaker
And alongside the Royal Treasury and seeing the Portuguese royal jewels, we got to do a tour of the crown jewelers of Portugal, this company called Leitão and Irmao.
00:23:48
Speaker
Very little known.
00:23:49
Speaker
I had never heard of them before, but our guide, Rui, he was able to take us into their workshop where we saw
00:23:59
Speaker
maybe 50 jewelers, bench jewelers, all sitting there crafting still to this day just this wide array of beautiful silverware, beautiful handmade pearl jewelry and jewelry.
00:24:15
Speaker
just a whole smorgasbord of dining and, and jewels you can wear and everything that I think makes decorative arts truly, truly a family that includes jewelry and decor.
00:24:30
Speaker
And I felt like,
00:24:32
Speaker
At the time, I just completely bonded with this company and this experience.
00:24:38
Speaker
And to me, jewelry is always about that.
00:24:40
Speaker
You sort of get this feeling of, wow, I really feel like I understand the brand and I understand the craftspeople.
00:24:50
Speaker
So the next day we walk into an antique shop in Lisbon and among the many pieces of jewels we saw, we saw a Latow and Hermo citrine brush.
00:25:01
Speaker
It was a pretty big citrine, I would say maybe like 11 or 12 carats and a rectangle cut.
00:25:10
Speaker
And then it was surrounded by little pearls.
00:25:12
Speaker
which later they told me were natural pearls too.
00:25:16
Speaker
This brooch turned out to be from the 1940s and done in something called Portuguese gold, which was 19.2K yellow gold.
00:25:25
Speaker
So it had a slight different sheen from your typical pieces, but I fell in love with it.
00:25:31
Speaker
And in sort of your hunts for jewelry, rarely do I get the closeness of sequencing where you fall in love with something and the next day you see it.
00:25:42
Speaker
This wasn't antique, so I think there was something really special about that excursion and having a piece of jewelry to remember it by.
00:25:52
Speaker
I had that dream again.
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Speaker
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00:25:58
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So then I'm doing IT, and when I go to plug the servers in, they become sentient, and they won't let us access our network unless we forward their chain emails and memes to more and more and more people, and then...
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00:26:23
Speaker
So you obviously have a tremendous amount of experience with jewelry, with its history, its aesthetics, its production.
00:26:33
Speaker
But when you went into that workshop, did you see anything that surprised you?
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was the timelessness of it.
00:26:45
Speaker
You enter off of a busy street and you go through this little alleyway and it sort of opens into something that literally could be someone's tiny hole in the wall apartment, or it could be this amazing...
00:27:00
Speaker
behind the scenes, Wizard of Oz hole where you peek through and literally they were creating magic.
00:27:08
Speaker
It was all, I didn't see a single computer in the entire workshop and that really blew my mind because in other workroom tours I've gotten,
00:27:19
Speaker
Most of the time, there's a little catting.
00:27:22
Speaker
There's a little AI.
00:27:23
Speaker
People are even Instagramming right from the office.
00:27:26
Speaker
But inside this office, it was really still the old tools that have been passed down from generation to generation.
00:27:35
Speaker
And they were still relying on molds to wax, carve a lot of the jewelry and to cast it.
00:27:42
Speaker
So...
00:27:43
Speaker
It was really cool.
00:27:44
Speaker
And they did this demonstration for us where they melted down gold to make it into something else.
00:27:49
Speaker
And I mean, there was this work man there who didn't have goggles on, had one glove, not even a pair, just like holding this flame torch to like make gold into liquid.
00:28:03
Speaker
And it just, it blew my mind.
00:28:05
Speaker
Wow.
00:28:07
Speaker
Ism, do you wear this when you go out?
00:28:11
Speaker
I do sometimes.
00:28:13
Speaker
I wore it to Jemex event recently.
00:28:17
Speaker
I think me and brooches, like I'm really trying to give them their moment.
00:28:22
Speaker
But at the same time, I get a little worried where I can't feel the jewelry on me directly.
00:28:29
Speaker
So I need to do better.
00:28:31
Speaker
I think this is a good reminder that I need to wear it out a little more.
00:28:35
Speaker
I've seen you wear it on like a belt and that is so chic.
00:28:37
Speaker
I love that use of a brooch.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's such a good size and sort of that rectangular shape.
00:28:45
Speaker
I think you could put it on a velvet necklace.
00:28:47
Speaker
You can put it as a belt.
00:28:49
Speaker
I did try my headband idea, but that didn't go so well because it, again, you wouldn't feel it if it fell off too easily.
00:28:55
Speaker
So anyway, though, I'm so in love with this piece.
00:28:59
Speaker
And yeah, the colors this time of the year, it's just so seasonal.
00:29:04
Speaker
And I, you know, maybe during Thanksgiving, I will give it a proper hurrah this year.
00:29:10
Speaker
Love that.
00:29:11
Speaker
I know you've only had it for less than a year now, but do you have an instinct?
00:29:15
Speaker
Is this going to be a forever piece for you?
00:29:19
Speaker
It's definitely a forever piece.
00:29:22
Speaker
I don't have that many...
00:29:27
Speaker
antique pieces where I think could work with so many different things.
00:29:32
Speaker
And I think this is also a very unisex piece.
00:29:35
Speaker
Like I have younger boys where people are always like, oh, are you going to pass jewelry down to them?
00:29:41
Speaker
And I'm like, absolutely.
00:29:43
Speaker
And brooches are just the thing.
00:29:45
Speaker
And it's really about the memory, though.
00:29:48
Speaker
I think
00:29:50
Speaker
The Portugal trip was just so special to me that this piece I hope I can keep forever just as a memory of the trip.
00:29:59
Speaker
Christine, what have you got for us today?
The Joy of Discovery and Collecting
00:30:03
Speaker
My story also relates to a faraway land.
00:30:09
Speaker
We go back to London.
00:30:12
Speaker
Simon used to participate in the Masterpiece Fair,
00:30:17
Speaker
which unfortunately has been canceled.
00:30:21
Speaker
But one of our favorite traditions in going to London was browsing the Portobello market Saturday mornings before the show.
00:30:32
Speaker
So we'd wake up and you have to get that, you know, people get there really early.
00:30:37
Speaker
I think we would try and get there at seven and, you know, think like the early bird had already caught the worm.
00:30:44
Speaker
That's rough with the time change too.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:30:48
Speaker
And, you know, imagine going to the flea market before going to work a full day at an art fair.
00:30:57
Speaker
It's a lot, but we love it so much, you know, the thrill of the hunt.
00:31:02
Speaker
So yeah,
00:31:04
Speaker
you know, when you're browsing, I browse in two modes, you know, I'm shopping for the gallery, and I'm also shopping for myself, you know, kind of a hazard of being in the business, you're always tempted.
00:31:17
Speaker
But I do have a running kind of wishlist for myself.
00:31:23
Speaker
And
00:31:25
Speaker
Of course, I get prioritized if I find something great.
00:31:31
Speaker
And especially if I can afford it, right?
00:31:33
Speaker
So something that has been on my wish list is as a diehard romantic and someone who likes antique jewelry, kind of the older the better, is a Flemish heart.
00:31:48
Speaker
So these are these really gorgeous pendants that became popular in the 18th, 19th century.
00:31:56
Speaker
They feature a single stone heart that represents Mary's heart.
00:32:01
Speaker
So there is a devotional aspect to it that I don't identify with, but whatever.
00:32:06
Speaker
It's a heart.
00:32:07
Speaker
It's cool.
00:32:07
Speaker
I like it.
00:32:09
Speaker
So there's the central stone heart, either diamond or in this case, my case, paste.
00:32:16
Speaker
And then it's surrounded by intricate openwork flowers.
00:32:21
Speaker
And then this larger heart shape is either topped with a crown or a love trophy, which is made up of a torch, a quiver, a bow and a laurel.
00:32:34
Speaker
So the one that, the one that I prefer is the love trophy.
00:32:38
Speaker
I just think it's such a cool shape and it represents euros.
00:32:42
Speaker
And that's something that, you know, has endured since the Roman empire.
00:32:48
Speaker
So love that moment.
00:32:52
Speaker
Um, so I found a paste version, something that I could afford and snap that up for myself.
00:33:00
Speaker
Um, and
00:33:03
Speaker
just to fast forward and kind of show how, you know, if you like antiques, if you want to start collecting, don't let price kind of get in the way.
00:33:14
Speaker
You can find things that are within reach.
00:33:18
Speaker
I think now it's been a year or so, we found a diamond version for the gallery.
00:33:24
Speaker
And so that's the second piece in the picture.
00:33:28
Speaker
It is a bit earlier than the one that I found.
00:33:32
Speaker
And, you know, it's a bit, the stones are bigger.
00:33:35
Speaker
You have a lot more stones than in mine, but that's okay.
00:33:41
Speaker
I just thought it was an interesting kind of example to show
00:33:46
Speaker
you know, here's a paste version that I found for a couple hundred pounds.
00:33:50
Speaker
And now here's the diamond version that we're selling for, you know, $11,000 in the gallery and how, you know, I'm lucky to have the access and the eye to find things that I can add to my collection while still promoting and like having, being able to share that story with kind of everyone.
00:34:15
Speaker
Now I'm starting to understand why you said that costume jewelry is underrated.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:20
Speaker
And, you know, especially with paste jewelry, it was made with the same level of craftsmanship as with diamonds and real quote unquote stones.
00:34:36
Speaker
So, and especially in older jewelry.
00:34:39
Speaker
So yeah.
00:34:41
Speaker
When you saw it, did it immediately click for you?
00:34:44
Speaker
Did you think, okay, this is what I've been waiting for?
00:34:47
Speaker
Or did you have to sit with it as Levi recommended?
00:34:51
Speaker
Nope.
00:34:52
Speaker
I am pretty, I am, my senses are pretty honed now.
00:34:59
Speaker
let's say you win the lottery or find yourself, you know, years along in a much more aggressive financial position.
00:35:07
Speaker
Yes.
00:35:08
Speaker
Can you imagine upgrading to the diamond version?
00:35:12
Speaker
Or do you think that the paste one you have has scratched that itch for you?
00:35:16
Speaker
Nope.
00:35:17
Speaker
Nope, not scratched it.
00:35:19
Speaker
Yes, I will have diamond versions of everything.
00:35:22
Speaker
And then the paste versions will, as it was in the old days, be the travel versions.
00:35:28
Speaker
So yeah.
00:35:30
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:35:30
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:35:31
Speaker
Smart.
00:35:31
Speaker
All right, Levi, you're at bat.
The Quest for a Zodiac Pendant
00:35:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:38
Speaker
So my story is sort of a saga and it's, it's ties into my theme of the long game.
00:35:44
Speaker
I always think of jewelry hunting as the long game.
00:35:47
Speaker
I think you should like want something, you should look for it and it should come to you.
00:35:52
Speaker
You should really like
00:35:54
Speaker
put it out into the universe and have it returned to you.
00:35:58
Speaker
And so this is what I did.
00:35:59
Speaker
I had wanted a Van Cleef Zodiac Virgo pendant for a long time.
00:36:05
Speaker
And I like looked on Instagram and looked at auction and talked to all these dealers and sort of, you know, beat the bushes as much as I could.
00:36:14
Speaker
And I think I tried to bid on one at some European auction.
00:36:18
Speaker
And the, you know, you can't,
00:36:21
Speaker
pull the wool over the industry's eyes and of course these things go for a lot of money these days and um it to the the van cleef zodiac series from like the 50s through the 70s and i guess it went beyond the 70s too but um they come in multiple sizes there's sort of like a quarter size one and there's like a jumbo size one that's pretty big like a like a silver dollar sort of size um
00:36:48
Speaker
And I thought that I had wanted the smaller size and I was bidding on it and it was so expensive and I just couldn't do it.
00:36:53
Speaker
But so it didn't happen for me once.
00:36:56
Speaker
And I had used Instagram as sort of this public begging platform to be like, if anyone sees one, please let me know.
00:37:04
Speaker
you know, calling out to the jewelry gods that be that, you know, I'm on the hunt, I'm looking for one.
00:37:10
Speaker
So it kind of became this like years long saga of me, like putting it out there and talking to dealers who constantly got them and, oh, I got a Gemini.
00:37:20
Speaker
Oh, I got a Scorpio.
00:37:21
Speaker
And it was never Virgo because that was sort of the hardest sign to find.
00:37:26
Speaker
Can I just go out on a limb and guess that you're a Virgo?
00:37:31
Speaker
I'm definitely Virgo.
00:37:33
Speaker
Very emblematically a Virgo.
00:37:36
Speaker
And, you know, Virgo as a sign and a symbol, like it's maybe the most widely interpreted sign.
00:37:47
Speaker
Like it's a female form, it's a goddess, it's a maiden, it can be a lot of different things.
00:37:52
Speaker
you know, it can be depicted in a lot of different ways.
00:37:54
Speaker
And sometimes I like the way it's depicted.
00:37:56
Speaker
Sometimes it don't.
00:37:58
Speaker
But the Van Cleef one from the seventies is very beautiful.
00:38:02
Speaker
It's got this unicorn.
00:38:03
Speaker
It's got this maiden in like a toga.
00:38:05
Speaker
She's very like columnar in the middle of it.
00:38:08
Speaker
So it feels very mystical.
00:38:09
Speaker
It's not just like a big woman's face or something kind of strange.
00:38:14
Speaker
Like it has this nice ancient, uh,
00:38:18
Speaker
sort of symbolism that I like.
00:38:21
Speaker
So that's why I was so hyper-focused on this Van Cleef version.
00:38:25
Speaker
Anyway, so years into this hunt for this thing, I got a message from someone who shall remain nameless, but she works at Van Cleef in the heritage department.
00:38:38
Speaker
And
00:38:39
Speaker
She said, I know you've been looking for this.
00:38:41
Speaker
I know that you've been on the hunt.
00:38:44
Speaker
And she had received word that someone in Geneva was trying to sell one to Van Cleef.
00:38:50
Speaker
And Van Cleef did not need it.
00:38:52
Speaker
They already had one or they had plenty in their heritage collection.
00:38:57
Speaker
And they weren't necessarily interested in buying it from this private.
00:39:00
Speaker
And I was like, yes, please put me in touch.
00:39:03
Speaker
So I got sort of this unprecedented direct access to a private person selling one, which is kind of the Holy grail.
00:39:11
Speaker
It's not being marked up by a dealer.
00:39:13
Speaker
It's not in a feeding frenzy at an auction.
00:39:16
Speaker
It was this like perfectly encapsulated moment of,
00:39:21
Speaker
like someone selling it, trying to sell it to me, who is a person interested in buying it.
00:39:27
Speaker
The price was right.
00:39:28
Speaker
The price was great.
00:39:29
Speaker
Honestly, I don't want to say how much, but it was amazing price.
00:39:32
Speaker
Um, and it was a jumbo size.
00:39:34
Speaker
It was like, not what I thought I wanted.
00:39:36
Speaker
I thought I wanted the smaller size, but once I held it and got it, it was like exactly right.
00:39:41
Speaker
The heft is really great.
00:39:42
Speaker
The thickness of the gold is really wonderful.
00:39:45
Speaker
Um, it feels like this ancient coin when I wear it, it's very powerful feeling on my chest.
00:39:50
Speaker
Um,
00:39:51
Speaker
And I think Christine and Lynn were going to, was it Gemgenev in like November or something?
00:39:55
Speaker
So they were traveling to Geneva.
00:39:57
Speaker
They sort of got to help in the saga and the ushering of this thing back to me.
00:40:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:05
Speaker
And Christine did her smell test in like a lobby of a hotel where she, I was like, is this thing right?
00:40:11
Speaker
Am I getting swindled?
00:40:12
Speaker
And she's like, nope, you're good.
00:40:14
Speaker
It's got the, it's got the right antique smell.
00:40:17
Speaker
It feels good.
00:40:18
Speaker
It looks good.
00:40:19
Speaker
So it was very like, you know, blessed to kind of have these, um, helpers along the way.
00:40:26
Speaker
Wait, Christine, what's the correct antique smell?
00:40:30
Speaker
It's the smell test.
00:40:32
Speaker
It's you're gathering information about a jewel, right?
00:40:35
Speaker
Like you want to feel that it feels correct.
00:40:40
Speaker
You know, that if it has connections or any kind of movement to it, it's fluid, but people forget to smell things, which another one of our friends was wondering if something was gold and I, and I smelled it and I'm like,
00:40:57
Speaker
You smell it and tell me gold does not smell.
00:41:01
Speaker
If a piece of jewelry that someone is telling you is solid gold smells like a handful of change.
00:41:08
Speaker
That's not gold.
00:41:09
Speaker
That's some kind of base metal.
00:41:12
Speaker
Right.
00:41:13
Speaker
So I always smell things.
00:41:15
Speaker
And also if you're telling me that something is a hundred years old and there's no smell to it, which is a different idea from the gold smell, there's no smell.
00:41:27
Speaker
anything to it then that's something that like kind of sets my alarms off but i have a great mental image of you walking around to jewelry booths at a show just picking things up and taking whiffs no shame no she really does she's like a bloodhound i asked specifically for it i'm like are you sure is this thing right she said yes so
00:41:55
Speaker
Amazing.
00:41:56
Speaker
So that's a hot tip.
00:41:59
Speaker
So Levi, now that you got this thing that you were looking for for so long, how does it feel?
00:42:06
Speaker
It feels wonderful.
00:42:07
Speaker
It feels like, it feels like the rarest of the rare thing at the right price that came to me.
00:42:13
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:42:14
Speaker
Like the, the,
00:42:15
Speaker
the universe aligned and the beam of light hit straight on me.
00:42:19
Speaker
And it was, it was just great.
00:42:21
Speaker
So, you know, Oh, I could sell it for a major profit.
00:42:25
Speaker
I'm not going to, I'm going to keep it forever.
00:42:28
Speaker
It's, it's definitely like pride of place in my jewelry box.
00:42:31
Speaker
So.
00:42:32
Speaker
Do you wear it?
00:42:34
Speaker
I do wear it.
00:42:34
Speaker
And I have a lot of friends who are Virgos and I make every Virgo wear it so that it's like gathered all this like Virgo energy.
00:42:41
Speaker
So there's a lot of sort of weird mystical things I have with it, but I'm obsessed with it.
00:42:47
Speaker
So I'm...
00:42:49
Speaker
His fetish is very contagious too.
00:42:51
Speaker
Every time you're around Levi, it's like we all have our zodiac obsessiveness out just channeling this aura that he has every time.
00:43:04
Speaker
Well, most of the time, since you're pretty much always wearing that pendant.
00:43:08
Speaker
I kind of am.
00:43:08
Speaker
I have two, I have two Zodiac pendants.
00:43:10
Speaker
I have my David Webb one that I wear probably every day, just because it's a little smaller, a little lighter.
00:43:15
Speaker
And then the big Van Cleep comes out for sort of powerful moments or events or something.
00:43:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:22
Speaker
And we have a fair amount of,
00:43:25
Speaker
um gem x core members who also have grade zodiac pendant collections whether they be van cleef or something else so i'm sure somewhere on instagram is floating a picture of like a few of us with like all of our big gold pendants on and together and it's quite quite a moment but um we love them
00:43:43
Speaker
I love that feeling of community, that collecting.
00:43:47
Speaker
I mean, it sometimes strikes people as a very solitary pursuit, but it doesn't have to be that way.
00:43:51
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:43:52
Speaker
And with Zodiacs, then everyone's after their own one, you know, so there's not like competition or whatever, unless you're both a certain sign.
00:44:00
Speaker
You just can't be friends with another Virgo.
00:44:02
Speaker
Right, right.
00:44:03
Speaker
But so far, nobody's gotten hurt, so...
00:44:06
Speaker
Zodiacs and monograms.
00:44:07
Speaker
We all look out for each other.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:44:12
Speaker
Everything else is fair game.
00:44:15
Speaker
This is fantastic.
00:44:16
Speaker
And it's been so wonderful to hear all three of these, these very personal stories about your relationship with a piece of jewelry.
Sharing Unique Jewelry Finds
00:44:26
Speaker
I just want to ask before we go, because these are all pieces that you've acquired and
00:44:32
Speaker
And you're all people who look at jewelry all the time.
00:44:34
Speaker
I mean, you look at thousands of pieces of jewelry, I'm sure every month, the vast majority of which you don't have any intention of buying.
00:44:43
Speaker
How is it different to look at a piece that you've bought that you own versus looking at a piece that you don't own and that you might never intend to own?
00:44:59
Speaker
It's a great question.
00:45:02
Speaker
I often like look upon something and can, I don't know.
00:45:08
Speaker
It's like, you're chucking it under the chin and being like, you're good kid.
00:45:13
Speaker
You know, you're, you can appreciate the beauty of something and kind of be like, go on, get like, get out there in the world.
00:45:20
Speaker
I love you, but everyone else will love you too.
00:45:23
Speaker
And it's okay.
00:45:24
Speaker
Um,
00:45:26
Speaker
but the pieces that are yours, you're like, they're your treasured babies, they're your little pets.
00:45:32
Speaker
It's very Gollum, my precious, if we want to get there.
00:45:35
Speaker
But I don't know.
00:45:38
Speaker
I have like a fondness for the pieces that I look at and I think, wow, you're really good and you're for someone else.
00:45:45
Speaker
You know, you're meant for something else.
00:45:49
Speaker
I think that Levi can relate to this, but sometimes, well, for me,
00:45:54
Speaker
as long as I have footage of it, I feel like I own a bit of it.
00:45:59
Speaker
Like I've had my moment and it's recorded and I can refer back to that video where I've been really thorough and like really like sensuous about capturing everything that I want to remember about it that I feel okay to, yeah, like move it on.
00:46:15
Speaker
That's very true.
00:46:16
Speaker
Yeah, I will agree with that.
00:46:19
Speaker
As the non-Instagram person here, I think with jewelry, you know it's personal to someone.
00:46:30
Speaker
It has a story to tell with someone in the world.
00:46:36
Speaker
in our view, we're like in the age of connectivity where if I see something that I think someone else needs to see, I'm like pinging them and texting them to be like, you have to check this out.
00:46:50
Speaker
And I think a lot of it,
00:46:52
Speaker
you do bond over because then you have a moment for the jewelry, whether they buy it or not, or whether, you know, they end up seeing it and saying, oh, ha ha, that's not for me.
00:47:03
Speaker
It turns into a little wink, wink moment.
00:47:06
Speaker
And there's something about the hunt in jewelry.
00:47:09
Speaker
Listening to all your stories and your great questions tonight, Ben, jewelry is fleeting.
00:47:15
Speaker
If you see it,
00:47:17
Speaker
especially at an antique show or out in a show somewhere, and you don't take advantage of that moment and either buy it yourself or pass it to someone else, that is the universe is probably single singular moment to give it to you.
00:47:32
Speaker
And if you walk away, you're not going to see it again.
00:47:35
Speaker
And I've just had so many moments of the one that got away or the ones that got away that to me, I, I try and really, you
00:47:46
Speaker
at least like hone in on the pieces and you can always resell them if they don't work out whatsoever.
00:47:52
Speaker
But I've had so much not buyers remorse from jewelry that I think I'm conditioned in the other way, or at least to share it with someone if it's truly a high quality piece who can appreciate it and wear it.
00:48:06
Speaker
It's fantastic.
00:48:08
Speaker
Lynn, if listeners are interested in learning more about GemX, where should they go?
00:48:14
Speaker
Oh, well, we are always in the jewelry world.
00:48:18
Speaker
We're easy to find.
00:48:20
Speaker
Easiest would be Instagram, GemX Club, or you can visit our website, gemx.club.
00:48:27
Speaker
We host three events-ish every month.
00:48:32
Speaker
Some are virtual, some are in person.
00:48:35
Speaker
And as I previously mentioned, we're planning lots of fun excursions too.
00:48:40
Speaker
So if you're
00:48:42
Speaker
looking to take a vacation around jewelry.
00:48:44
Speaker
It's something that we're super excited about.
00:48:47
Speaker
Well, Lynn Jameson, Christine Chang, and Levi Higgs, thanks so much for spending time with me.
00:48:53
Speaker
This has been a lot of fun.
00:48:55
Speaker
Our pleasure.
00:48:56
Speaker
Cheers.
00:48:58
Speaker
Thank you.
00:49:01
Speaker
Today's episode was edited and produced by Sammy Delati with social media and web support from Sarah Bilotta.
00:49:07
Speaker
Sierra Holt is our digital media and editorial associate.
00:49:11
Speaker
Our music is by Trap Rabbit and I'm Ben Miller.