Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Glenn Spiro - Collecting Stones & Gems So Rare That Even Jay-Z & Beyonce Couldn't Resist
669 Plays1 year ago
Today we’re chatting with a collector that’s owned some of the rarest gems in the world and has created some of the most sought after jewelry. Glenn Spiro, based in London, is calling in today from the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, where he has an outpost that he opens for just two weeks out of the year. G has created some of the most magnificent pieces utilizing the highest of quality and rarest stones in the world, from diamonds to emeralds. He’s created pieces for some of the most exclusive, including Beyonce, and has his very own book made by Assouline. Not only is he selling jewelry with some of the most incredible gems in the world, but he’s also collecting them too. In fact, he puts stones away for his daughters every year and tells an incredible story which you’ll have to wait until the end to for. He’s a first generation for his family in this business and deserves all the credit. Without further adieu, Glenn Spiro, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Glenn Spiro - https://glennspiro.com/
Beyonce's Papillon Ring - https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/papillon-ring-by-glenn-spiro
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Glenn Spiro
00:00:00
Speaker
When you see something you really like, if you look hard enough, you're five-fourths in it. And sometimes you just have to look at something. There's no difference to a picture if you really love it. You know what to look for. You know what the paper says. But if you really, really want to look, I mean, a 10 times loop or a 20 times loop in your hand is not going to give you any more clarity than they use in the laboratory. Do you know what I mean? So you have to love the certain people, analyze rather than love.
00:00:26
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to collector's gene radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time please subscribe and leave a review it truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
00:00:52
Speaker
Today we're chatting with a collector that's owned some of the rarest gems in the world and has created some of the most sought after jewelry. Glenn Spiro, based in London, is calling in from the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills today, where he has an outpost that he opens for just two weeks out of the year.
00:01:08
Speaker
G has created some of the most magnificent pieces utilizing the highest of quality and rarest stones in the world, from diamond stammerolds. He's created pieces for some of the most exclusive, including Beyonce and has his very own book made by Aceline. Not only is he selling jewelry with some of the most incredible gems in the world, but he's also collecting them too.
00:01:29
Speaker
In fact, he puts stones away for his daughters every year and tells us an incredible story about buying a diamond site on scene, which you'll have to wait until the end for.
Glenn Spiro's Beginnings in Jewelry
00:01:39
Speaker
He's also in the rare situation where this is a multi-generational business, but G is actually first generation for his family and deserves all the credit. So without further ado, Glenn Spiro for Collectors Gene Radio. Glenn, absolute pleasure to welcome you on to Collectors Gene Radio today. Good morning to you.
00:01:59
Speaker
Thank you for having me. I think we certainly under our spurs on this one. We tried hard. Yes, we finally made it to the almost the finish line. So I'm very excited to have you on. Thank you. There's a lot to talk about today, but I think it's important we start with our talk about jewels and stones and ultimately your business.
00:02:22
Speaker
Your story is quite fascinating. It's really not the most traditional. At the age of 15, you got a job at English Artworks, which was owned by Cartier at the time, and by the age of 21, you opened up your own workshop. How formative were those years working under Cartier, and what pieces were they designing at your time there?
00:02:41
Speaker
Well, you know, it's nice to be very real. When I got there, I wouldn't say it was, they were looking for me. It was more who's going to make the tea, clean the floor and make sure that everything was spic and span. And then after that sort of short period of making a lovely cups of tea for everyone in the workshop, it was a fabulous workshop.
00:03:00
Speaker
They decided to allow me to take a little exercise to see if I can cut the Queen's head out of a coin. And if it dropped out, I could be an apprentice, which I became an apprentice for, and I did that for nine years. And became a master jeweler, which was very nice, under their tutelage. And what did that teach me?
00:03:19
Speaker
You know, I think in any business, it's not just about the product. You know, when you come out of school and you get out of your house, you start going in the big world, you meet people. And you collect people as much as you collect things. And you learn how to collect the right people, not the wrong people. And people that, you know, give you certain leads in life or people that are slightly better than you in certain areas. And you learn to get the confidence to do that.
00:03:45
Speaker
What I learned in those years was one, to be a jeweller, which is one thing, and it's very nice to do that. We didn't come from a privileged background, so I needed a career to earn a living and I became a jeweller. But more than that, that was just academic. You look past the jewellery because you look at your surroundings and
00:04:06
Speaker
Where does the jewelry go? Who wears the jewelry? Who are those people? It's a whole infrastructure to buy a stone, make a piece, and find out who actually wants to wear the piece and can pay for the piece.
Designing for Celebrities and Creativity vs. Commerce
00:04:20
Speaker
And those informative years taught me how to be around people. On my own as a young man.
00:04:27
Speaker
So you hunt, source, collect some of the rarest gems in the world. And I truly feel like everything you create is like the definition of what the Met Gala is and what people do at the Met Gala now and where Art Deco, very avant-garde and truly daring at the end of the day. One thing that you're very well known for is Beyonce's Papillon reign. How did that come about?
00:04:52
Speaker
So firstly, when you say the mech gala, there are other jewellers that are far more splendid than I. And they create wonderful things that just are that wow factor. But in my opinion, I try very hard as I said, when you create these things, there has to be
00:05:10
Speaker
some commercial aspect because unfortunately I have to earn a living from what I create. So it has to have some reality to it where it can be worn and enjoyed without being so crazy. So yeah, we do find stones and we do collect wonderful things, but they become more wearable and they're usable. And when you say how to Beyonce, I was very lucky because I met Jay through a dinner. We were just sitting together.
00:05:37
Speaker
And we became friendly and we've been on trips with about eight guys, all of us together. And we all come from similar backgrounds, all the guys on that trip. And somehow our lives have become good and we've become blessed and we've seen things that we probably never imagined we would see. So we traveled all over the world together doing things that we would never even dreamt of doing.
00:06:00
Speaker
as young men. And obviously, as a bystander of that, I met Beyonce, which I know very well. She's friends with my wife and the kids, and I made her that ring.
Personal Collection vs. Commercial Sale
00:06:10
Speaker
And then she donated it to the museum, which was something very special as well for us in London. It's a lovely piece.
00:06:19
Speaker
Do you remember the first piece of jewelry that really got you interested into what you do now? Yeah, I actually do. And, um, you know, you can come up with these stories, but actually it's true. I was working in English artworks and I got a telephone call from a guy that I knew who was getting engaged. Oh, I must've been about 18. I think I can't remember. We had no money, but he was getting engaged. He wanted to do so. So I found the stone.
00:06:47
Speaker
and he bought the stone and he basically bought the stone and I designed a ring, created a ring, they came in, I gave it to them and
00:06:59
Speaker
money exchange and a lot of smiles and hugs and I thought it's not a terrible business to be in. That's very nice. So it's sort of a why not and then it's progressed from there really you know you make things and you see the joy in people's faces and you know sadly after a while it becomes a business
00:07:20
Speaker
which I'm also very keen on because I don't want it to be something that's not real. It has to feed us. So there is a little bit of a, you know, there's a business aspect which, you know, takes away from the, you know, the making of something. You have to look at it as a business as well.
00:07:39
Speaker
Your pieces and your stones are no doubt very desirable and very collectible. And I'm curious to know if your clients who collect your pieces and stones, do they like to collect more of a variety or are they collecting, for example, all rubies from you? Or do you have a mix of those types of clients?
00:07:59
Speaker
So I have to say, I have collected some of the most amazing gems in the world, honestly. And I've only bought them when I can afford them and I keep them and I don't trade them. I own them. And I now start to create people's collections. I never used to serve private clients till 12, 15, 14 years ago. I only made for the big brands.
00:08:23
Speaker
So I collected stones and we built things and eventually we made things and that sold to the big brands. Today it's for private clients and they are building collections and there is great value to that. And there's nice things to pass down and nice things to sell. If heaven forbid, you need some money and you need to sell your jewelry, it works.
Advice for Collectors: Passion over Price
00:08:43
Speaker
Absolutely. And I asked this question to a lot of our guests that are in your position, and that is being someone who deals, sources, collects in the same area of their business. Is there a difficulty sometimes between keeping pieces or stones for yourself versus selling them to a client?
00:09:02
Speaker
Well, I have three daughters and a son, and I save stones every year for them. On purpose, I haven't documented all the stones, because I don't want to remember what's in their little vaults, because otherwise I'm going to pillage them and take them out again. So I find it's easier to take them off my memory once I've made the decision. Otherwise, if I kept a piece of paper, my natural thing would be selling it. I try not to know.
00:09:32
Speaker
You know, I love to collect stones. I just, I don't know. I see things that I like and I buy things that I can afford them. And some are, you know, it can be a pound and it can be a million pounds. It can be many, much more. If I can afford it, I like it. It doesn't matter. I think that's really, I wouldn't say I was the greatest collector, but I certainly have built up a nice collections. They have many things. Yeah.
00:09:54
Speaker
What's that struggle like between finding something ultra rare and saying, I want to keep this for my personal collection and I want to make it into a piece of jewelry? It takes so long to make these pieces and you get so excited to go, right, everything's ready. Let's go out and people start coming in and they look and then weirdly get a little bit upset when they agree to buy them.
00:10:16
Speaker
You go, okay, then you hand it over and your little kid's gone. It's been with you for three or four years, and now it's gone. And there is that feeling. You think, well, just start all over again. So in a weird way, you do find these wonderful rare gems and stones and make things, and then they disappear and go on their own little journey. Collecting stones and jewelry
00:10:38
Speaker
isn't the easiest, right? There can be an extremely high barrier to entry, especially not knowing where to find them or not knowing a good dealer, but is there a place that you recommend collectors can get started in collecting stones and jewelry? Okay, so firstly, you must never buy something for price.
00:10:58
Speaker
Even when you collect art, you have to look at that thing on your wall and if you love it, you love it, you paid a bit more and a bit less, if you can afford it, you have to love it, own it and not reconcile it financially. Once you start pounding on a calculator every two minutes,
00:11:12
Speaker
It loses its, it just has, because the truth is it's worth nothing. Everything is worth nothing. It's only what two people want to pay for it, not three. So that's the real value of something, you know, and just because you've agreed to jump up to that level, there's no reason another one, two people won't go to that level or even higher if you've got good taste. So where do you start to buy? You know, you start to buy your local little shops, you start to buy your local little markets,
00:11:39
Speaker
You go and find out a little stone, like submission, you go and buy and you walk around, you walk around, so you look at something and go, that looks really nice. I like the green one, the blue one, the red one, the opal one, this one. And you start to look at things and go, I really like those things. Or it could be jewelry. It could be finished jewelry. There's a man who is
00:12:01
Speaker
was very close to me many years ago. And he retired and he decided to collect watches. He'd never bought a watch in his life, Cartier watches from 30s to 70s. And he decided that's, I don't know, he bought one little watch in a retail shop. And he said he put it in the drawer and he loved it. He's never worn a watch in his life. And it's been 20 years and he's now got one of the largest respected Cartier watch collections in the world.
00:12:30
Speaker
And it was a hot, literally he wasn't a very rich man. I mean, he was wealthy, but not really. But he traded some watches to change here now and learns himself. And it's no different to stop trading really. You got to learn or go with you or have great taste. Do you have clients who just want to collect stones and jewels from you without being set in a specific design?
00:12:55
Speaker
No, no, I'm just, I want to answer your illness, Lee. Do I? No, I think people buy things from us because they want to own them.
00:13:04
Speaker
The intrinsic value comes second, actually. Look, there is a business out there for sure where you can see what's happening in the world. People are nervous leaving money here or doing this or doing that. So they have this belief of buying cars or gems or pictures or whatever it may be, that that's a place to put money. But once they do that, you know they're going to come knocking on your door.
00:13:29
Speaker
to sell it one day. And you can only upset them if they don't make more money. It's not where I trade. That's not real collecting. That's a storage of wealth, if you know what I mean. Not that that's a bad thing, but not if you're rating half an hour to sell it. It doesn't work.
Commercialization and Globalization of Jewelry Industry
00:13:48
Speaker
I would have to imagine that a lot of the clients that you have that buy multiple pieces from you ask your opinion on
00:13:57
Speaker
you know, advising them on how to collect some of the pieces that they're buying from. Should they diversify? Should they stick with all one stone? Should they go this way, left, right, up, down? How do you advise your clients to collect when it comes to your pieces? Well, I'm also trying to advise myself because you learn every day. The truth is, you're supervising them. I learned from them as well. I've got amazing friends that become great friends who are exceptional collectors.
00:14:24
Speaker
And it's in their DNA. They absolutely love it. And it doesn't matter if it's from that period or that period they connect because they genuinely will put their money across the counter and own that piece. And they buy it with a smile and they can't wait to get home and put it up or use it wherever it may be. So I learned from them as well, remember. So when I'm looking at a client now trying to build a collection, do we actually look at what they've got? And do I give them advice?
00:14:51
Speaker
I would hope they've got the... I need to make sure. I don't want to persuade them. Do you understand what I mean? I don't want to persuade them to do it. I need someone also to have the power of the conviction to go, I love what you do and I want to do it. Well, then there's the two of us who are making a decision, not just one. It's not just me. Because if it's just me, then I feel like I'm pressurising someone to buy something which they don't want, which I don't want to do.
00:15:18
Speaker
Many people mistake you for a jewelry house, but you really focus on stones first and then the jewelry that's created. Now the jewelry is as if not more important.
00:15:30
Speaker
But you've said in the past that the design of the jewelry, if it doesn't fit with the essence of the stone, you put it back in the safe. So you do start with a stone, but I'm curious as to how often that happens. That's 99%. We buy stones. We have trays of stones and materials, and then we sit there. But remember, as much as you love those stones, unless they're super gem and they're sensational, which is a tiny part of it, they don't really come to life.
00:15:57
Speaker
until you put them into something. It's like making beautiful rolls of material from the 50s and making clothes. And if you never put them into a suit or create the thing to use the material, there's nothing to it. There's no beginning, middle or end. It's like writing a song. You have the words, unless you've got the great music, there's no beginning, middle and end. You need the end bit. So we create the end bit and the trays are full of lovely things. And then they naturally find their own buyer.
00:16:25
Speaker
Would you say that you feel the same way about jewels and stones today as you did when you first started? That's interesting. Look, like anything in my view, you get older and you get wiser and you see the world a little bit differently and you see it with different vision of your children growing up and the people you socialize with and where you go. You know, sadly, sadly,
00:16:52
Speaker
My television, my newspaper, my phone, my whatever it is, is filled with the worst news from all over the world. And I made a conscious decision a while ago to actually stop reading the news and listening to the news because it was depressing me. It's very hard to create lovely things if you keep reading what's really going on in the world. And I can't do anything. I can do my little bit. But if you try and wake up and read that and then go to create,
00:17:20
Speaker
or buy things, it does cloud your judgment, if you know what I mean. If you've got any sensibility. So an answer to your question, of course I've changed. When I was younger, I never used to read the news or see it that way, if you know what I mean, but it does affect you. You look at your kids, what they're growing up in and the violence and the this and the that and the way people wear things today, of course it's changed. It's become much more commercial. You've got huge, huge enormous fashion brands
00:17:49
Speaker
you know, now stepping into our world. You know, Louis Vuitton, you've got this one, that one, Chanel. Every one of them are stepping into our globalizing this jewellery business. I don't see one jeweller making a pair of trousers or shoes. It's amazing. They're all coming into our world, but we don't seem to be going in their world. So, I don't know. It's become much more commercial. And what we do is become much more select.
Challenges in High-End Jewelry Creation
00:18:18
Speaker
A lot of the work that you do is with gradient stones, which has got to be extremely difficult to find, match, and put together. But what is it about collecting gradient stones that inspires you? The truth is, and I'm sure this conversation just between you and I, don't tell anyone. I don't read it by jewelry. The truth of the matter is 99% of it is absolute
00:18:42
Speaker
nonsense. It doesn't look, it just feels whole in the ear and an area on the neck or something on the, I don't know, it just becomes so commercial to go and spend, you know, X amount of thousands of pounds and every single person in the world's wearing the same thing is a bit ridiculous. You know, so that's the reality is become a commercial business. I don't want to be that the more I think I'm in a small group of maybe three or four of us in the world that create lovely things, but it's for a very small audience.
00:19:12
Speaker
Do you understand that you can't build a big business? You may have a lot of goods, but you can't build a global business on high end jewelry. It doesn't work. Sure. You also work a lot in titanium, which can be an extremely difficult metal to work with. Do you do this because of its lightweight properties or is there something else that you love about titanium? Two things.
00:19:34
Speaker
thousand percent because of the weight. You know, I just remember growing up and seeing lots of people at a party having a pair of earrings and halfway through the evening unclipping them and putting them in their bag because they couldn't take the weight on their ears. So, of course, titanium is fabulous for that. When you're making a very expensive piece of jewelry,
00:19:56
Speaker
To be honest, whether you use gold or titanium, it doesn't really, because the value, you're not buying it for value of metal, of course. And also to create the piece when you use titanium, once you've mastered it, which we have, although you're still learning again, you, um, it allows you to create things that you, in an intricacy that you just can't do with normal metal. It's impossible. So in all those aspects make a big difference. Sure.
00:20:22
Speaker
And at the very end of the day, you choose not to work with a lot of clients, which is part of the allure to your exclusivity. Do you stay under a certain amount of customers or is there a specific number of pieces that you can produce each year? Just to clear up there, it's not that I stay, oh, we fussy. Look, I welcome anyone who wants to come in and buy jewelry. I'm not that much of a snob. I'm more than happy. You know, don't get me wrong, very nice. But the truth is,
00:20:51
Speaker
and i said how do you know so many people i don't know what people we know that i do know a lot of people i think it's just the nature of the beast i suppose i like people so you meet i think the nature of what we do this in the region so it's not open to everyone people want to come in and see it and over the years you know you know they say you know you do you get the ones you get the same in the business it becomes wiser and more wherewithal and how to run it the people find what you make and
00:21:20
Speaker
Slowly but surely, you build a platform with the right people, select people. It's just not for everyone. It is somewhat aggravating to sit and show all your work to someone who has no interest to buy it. It doesn't work. It's not a good hour spent. Would you say it's become harder or easier to collect stones as technology has evolved and competition has thickened?
00:21:45
Speaker
Well, technology doesn't make any difference to you. I mean, when you say tech, we'll come back to technology, because that's another subject where I think you're going. As far as is it harder? No, it is a bit harder. I'll tell you why, because there's people now coming into our business, as I said, that are not sure what they're buying. So they're scooping up stuff and hoping that's the right stuff to own.
00:22:10
Speaker
And they're not sure how to use it. So these big groups are buying some beautiful stones, but they're not creating pieces that are good with them, unfortunately. So yeah, there are things going missing a bit annoyingly, which normally would be available.
Impact of Technology and Auctions on Collecting
00:22:25
Speaker
Sure. And as far as technology goes, in regards to what I was saying, I was referring to social media and auctions and all these things being
00:22:37
Speaker
readily available at your fingertips now versus maybe back when you started, you had to show up in person or phone in and be able to show that you had enough money to bid. And a lot of times you don't have to do that now. Again, I think when you're dealing with a commercial aspect,
00:22:56
Speaker
The great pieces just don't go in auction, okay? They just don't. It takes too long to find them, too long to make them. It doesn't work. So the reality is people find what they need. The auction server purpose, I worked very closely with them. I've known them very well because I was with Christie's for many years. And I worked closely with Sotheby's as well on an advisory role. And, you know, they sometimes ask us to get very involved. You know, it's a great medium for selling jewelry, but there's nothing more than coming in and feeling it, seeing it, touching it,
00:23:27
Speaker
You know, you'll never you'll never be that jewelry ever people like you know what they're buying and I'm sure a lot of people are gonna want me to ask this question, but for someone like yourself who's looking at Six figure seven figure eight figure
Evaluating Gems: Intuition vs. Analysis
00:23:43
Speaker
stones. What's the best loop that money can buy?
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, it's very funny. I actually don't use a loop as often as you think. So actually I do have a new loop. I can't remember the name of it. I bought it in London. But a very wise man, many years ago, I took him from the auction, two beautiful stones. One was a blue and one was a pink. And I was asked to take them to his hotel suite. And I went to the hotel suite and he was a man of
00:24:16
Speaker
in great respect, and who's handled many stones. Now, when you go to the auction, you'll see these dealers, they open up their case like James Bond with unbelievable technology to look in the stone, through the stone, out the stone, out the other end, and many times out of 10, they buy nothing. But they've studied that stone more than you'd ever imagine. This man, I never will forget, I was young, and he picked up one stone, he looked at him, put in his hands,
00:24:44
Speaker
He looked at the other stone and he put it in his other hand and he put one stone down and he looked at the other one in his hand and he went, she's magnificent, isn't she? And I said, she's beautiful, thank you very much. And he put it back in the bag and he bought it. And that was over 10, $12 million. He never even looked, he just looked at it. And I asked him once, I said, why do you not study this? He said, you know, when you see something you really like, if you look hard enough, you'll find force in it.
00:25:14
Speaker
And sometimes you just have to look at something. There's no difference to a picture if you really love it. You know what to look for. You know what the paper says. But if you really, really want to look, I mean, a 10 times loop or a 20 times loop in your hand is not going to give you any more clarity than they use in the laboratory. Do you know what I mean? So you have to love the certain people, analyze rather than love. That's good advice.
00:25:38
Speaker
It's very good advice. Honestly, love it. If you look at it, it's no different, you know, as a man looks for a girl or a girl looks for a man. You don't go out and say, I know exactly what I want. You see someone, you're like, yeah, you're there. You give it a chance. But if you want to dig deep enough, you'll find definitely something that will turn you off. But you have to have that first attraction.
Watch Designs and Personal Collections
00:26:00
Speaker
You also launched a watch, which is something that everyone needs to see. The design is amazing.
00:26:06
Speaker
It is amazing. I did nothing with it. I've been very lazy with it, actually. I didn't launch it. I made it. I have it. I did nothing with it. And they're sitting there. I just haven't got my head around today. It is such a nice watch. It's gorgeous. Have watches always been something that you've admired? Not really. I mean, I haven't watches myself, some old watches. You know, I like them on the wrist. They're very nice. I like the older watch.
00:26:35
Speaker
No, I mean, watches are important. I mean, they do finish off, you know, an outfit of seeing it. It just works. I think a woman with a lovely watch or a man, I think looks great. Unfortunately, we've got problems in the UK, which I'm sure you have elsewhere, where they're very frightened to wear them. Absolutely. Which is just ridiculous. I mean, what a sad world that is.
00:26:59
Speaker
You have a book about you from one of the best, Asseline, called Art of a Jewel. This must have been quite an honor for you. Beyond. And it's sold out in like minutes. Didn't sell out, I have to tell you. I never realized how famous I was.
00:27:16
Speaker
They sold out. Don't forget, you're a Hollywood movie star. Yeah, quite right. The first one went to my parents, of course. I signed that, and they were all chuffed. And it is nice to look back in your book and think of the journey, and you know, you document it, and you see your pieces. And actually, you know what? I am proud. It's been a long journey. You know, we come from nothing, and I'm not a first generation.
00:27:40
Speaker
which is not easy in this business, as you well know. It takes a long time. And we've made our mark in our little business. We've made a mark and Gia's now, I think, a respected little house in Europe and we're around the world in little ways and we have good followers and we definitely put great effort to buy beautiful things and make beautiful things. And to see it documented in that book, yeah, it was a great master. There'll be another book.
00:28:10
Speaker
with Vaseline? I hope so, yeah. Volume two, why not keep going? I'm not dead yet. I hope they do a reprint of volume one. I didn't even get a chance to get my hands on one. They've just done a reprint just now, they just told me. But I'll send you a book. I'll give you a book, my pleasure. Just remind me of that. Definitely. Just slip a stone in there, something that's been sitting in the safe for a long time. It's just us, I'll slip a stone in.
00:28:40
Speaker
Well, I want to wrap up here with the collector's gene rundown and you can answer these. I know you collect a lot of different things and hopefully we'll have you back on to talk about that, but you can answer these questions based on the jewels and stones that you collect or I know you love cars, all that sort of stuff. Art, so feel free to answer them however you feel. Okay. All right. What's the one that got away?
00:29:03
Speaker
There it was. There was a beautiful emerald. Oh, God. And I know exactly where it is, but it's a way. It's actually a sad story, but I know where it is and I can't get to it, but I'm praying I will get to it. Because if I get to it, the person that owns it means they're going to be okay. It's a personal story, but someone owns it and is in a very unfortunate situation, but has the most magnificent emerald I've ever seen in my life. In my life.
00:29:33
Speaker
I hope it finds its way back to you. Do I? So do I. For all the right reasons. Can you share how big it is? 2301. Oh my goodness. How about the on deck circle? What's next for you in collecting?
00:29:48
Speaker
You know, I've been collecting art, I've always collected pieces, but art seems to be going that way now, because my son has a great passion for it. And it is nice to collect some, you know, I like art, a few cars and things like that, you know, bits and pieces. It's just nice to collect bits and pieces, actually, if you'll note from your travels, I like to collect.
Family Influence on Collecting
00:30:14
Speaker
So art is definitely an area I'm pushing forward to.
00:30:18
Speaker
How about the unobtainable, so one you can't have, maybe it's too expensive in a museum or a private collection? There's a watch, actually. I won't say what it was, but it's in a private collection. Again, as of when I saw it and I fell in love with it, probably never have it, but they know me, I know them.
00:30:39
Speaker
If it's God's will, then we'll be together and have that watch. It was lovely, lovely. Can you share what it is? It's an old, old Rolex, but it's from the fifties. It's just a one-off. It's just, God knows where it came from. It's so cool. I love it. It's so cool. It really is. It's got my name all over it. How about the page one rewrite? So if you could collect anything besides any of your current collections, money, no object, what would it be?
00:31:08
Speaker
You know what, cars, and I'm not, the reason I tell you cars is not just for the car actually, because that would be just, I've been over my, there's some really cool cars out there. But more important than that, once you've got the car,
00:31:26
Speaker
If you can, it's a great family thing to do with rallies and bonding things with people. I've seen now the rallies that they do all over the world. They're amazing.
Philosophy of Collecting: Passion vs. Value
00:31:35
Speaker
I've never done them, but they look fun. Great fun. I am an E-type. And they're beautiful 1960s E-type. It's immaculate. And that car did Peking to Paris. Amazing. These are stories. Do you know what I mean? They're great stories.
00:31:55
Speaker
That's a very nice thing to collect. Sure is. I see a camaraderie around the collectors. Absolutely. How about the goat? So who do you look up to in the collecting world? I have one great friend who is a true collector. I won't say his name, but he is an amazing collector. As far as, if you went in his garden, you'd know every single rose he's growing now. Every piece of furniture, every book, every piece of jewelry,
00:32:26
Speaker
Every piece of picture on the wall, every piece of object, there's a book on every piece. Well read. He loves what he does. It's in his DNA. Loves it. Loves it. Honestly, truly loves it. And here's someone that is truly inspiring to collect. Another one is a guy who lives in Ibiza, who collects people, great people. And what they do is they all collect different things. And he's part of all their lives.
00:32:56
Speaker
Amazing. It really is amazing because it's not, it's done with the right spirit. It's a lovely thing to watch. So they inspire me. That inspires me if I can follow them. Do you enjoy the hunt or the ownership war? Are you single or married? I'm married. You can answer the question. Let's secure it and get it done.
00:33:24
Speaker
Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's jean? Well, it must be because I buy things, I guess. I bought something yesterday. I bought literally a silver dish yesterday. I have no idea why I bought a silver dish yesterday. I walked, I mean, I'm in LA. I saw it in a secondhand shop. It's a beautiful piece of old silver. It wasn't a crazy money, but it was just sitting there. I asked the man the price in the shop. He gave me the price that I couldn't like to buy. I didn't ask for a discount.
00:33:53
Speaker
I just bought it full retail, just thought it was beautiful. And I don't know what to do with it. I'll just go in and I might create something with it or hang it. So I don't know. It's just something really pretty. So I must be, I just like to buy things. I like to get excited. I'd love to know, you know, something's coming and you're gonna see it and you're gonna put it somewhere. And with the greatest things to buy something and go, huh, I found just the spot. I found just the spot.
Acquiring the Skylar Rose Diamond
00:34:20
Speaker
I usually wrap it up right here, but I would love to hear one more story from you about you acquiring maybe a very rare stone and an interesting story behind it. I'm going to tell you a great story. You ready for this? I got two minutes. Let's hear it.
00:34:38
Speaker
I was in the island of Mystique with my wife and kids, with another friend of these kids, and there's not good signal there. But a man from New York, a very clever man, a cutter, called me on a very bad line, telling me from what I understood that his mother lives outside Rome and noticed that a police auction is coming up
00:35:03
Speaker
in a local little town, something's been grabbed or taken back to pay some debts. And in there is a diamond of such and such size with a little bit of color. And I said, okay, they're not for me. I'm on holiday and mistake. I'll speak to you soon and blah, blah, blah. And I put the phone down. And then, shoot. I have no idea why he just called me with that, but he's stuck in my head. He told me nothing.
00:35:28
Speaker
but it's in my head so i ran down to this little area put my head between two raining bars because anyway i could get a signal and called him back i said listen ask your i'll tell you i said i think you should get on a plane and go to rome who's in new york see glenn i'm really busy i said listen you put this in my head i think you should go
00:35:49
Speaker
So he flew the next day to Rome. He called me, he went in and the chain was on the door in the police department. He can't come in, he can only come in an hour. He sat in a little coffee shop and he phoned me and I said, is there anyone else near you? He said, no, no, it looks pretty empty. I said, go in there, see the stone, register and then leave and don't go back.
00:36:13
Speaker
He said, why not? I said, because someone, if that's an interesting stone, someone else is going to see it and they'll see you in there and you'll make it long. You'll be a bit of a bidding thing. So just disappear and do it by phone. He went and saw the stone and he sat there and I said, just talk me through the stone. He talked me through the stone. He went, it's really special, but it's damaged and broken and this. And it was in for no reserve. I said, it's sounding to me. He said, it looks to me like about 800,000, 700,000.
00:36:43
Speaker
And he's a very conservative cutter, and I went, okay. Anyway, the auction came up, and he was in a little hotel there. And he's bidding, bidding, bidding. And I said, go, go, go. And at 1.2, he said, okay, I'm out. He said, you're going crazy.
00:36:58
Speaker
He said, you don't even know what you're bidding on. I said, it's in my head. From what you explain, it's in my head. Anyway, I bought the thing, honestly, for $1.6 million, blind. He thought he was telling me no, and I said, I'll keep going. And I bought the stone. The stone went to New York. I didn't see it. And I said, look, don't show me the stone. I'm going to give you verbally how I want you to cut the stone. Just follow that, because if I see it, it's going to alter the way I'm thinking.
00:37:26
Speaker
So he said, okay, in the meantime, in the meantime, my wife was pregnant with my last daughter, Skyler, and he was doing the cutting. We flew back to London. We finished the stone. It went to the lab, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And on the day that my daughter was born, we came downstairs to go in the car. And as he called me, I was holding Skyler and the pillows and whatever else you're doing. That was my fourth child. And he said, oh my God, look, we can name the stone.
00:37:57
Speaker
I said, really? He said, yeah, we just got fancy and tense pink, flawless. You can name the stone. I said, let's call it the Skylar Rose, because she was in my answer. The Skylar Rose was named. The stone, right? It was all very nice and emotional, blah, blah, blah, gray. It was all excited. I bought this fancy orangey pink, excuse me. Anyway, cut a long story. My daughter came home. I went to work.
00:38:24
Speaker
one day in about a week, and the stone arrived. And as the stone arrived, came out the box, a really good client came in. As the stone was being around, oh my God, I'm in love with that stone. And he was my great friend. And I told him, it's called the Skyder Rose after Skye. He goes, he said, I'd like to buy that for my wife. And he bought the stone for his wife. And I mounted it, she's wearing it. And one day if they sell it, my daughter, hopefully, will marry a nice man. The two of them can buy that stone back.
00:38:54
Speaker
But that's how it works. And it was amazing. It's called the Skyler Road. You never know. It's all by instinct. It worked out perfectly. Incredible. Gee, thank you so much for coming on to Collector's Junior Radio. You've been a gentleman and it's been a pleasure.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:39:10
Speaker
And I hope I haven't been too boring.
00:39:12
Speaker
Not at all. I'm going to take you up on your offer to get that book because I've had a hard time getting my hands on it. No, for sure. It will be my pleasure, please. All right, my friend, be well. Thanks so much and same to you. Thank you very much. God bless you. All right, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.