Secrets of a Jeweler

“Let’s be clear on one thing. I’m not giving it away.  You said you’d like to buy it and if you can pay my price it’s yours.  And my price is $50,000.”

I handed the piece to Zelda, who is a graduate gemologist and asked her to check the piece for breakdown value.  I knew that whatever figure she came up with would be irrelevant.  It was more to buy time.

The asking price by usual standards, was outrageous.  And when Zelda produced a tabulation reflecting the values of 60 grams of 18 karat gold, the diamonds, the colored stones, her total was some $5,600.  Even factoring in the artistic beauty and the signature of a great French jeweler, in no way could the $50,000 be justified. 

The heart won over the mind and I made out the check.  Mrs. L was gracious.  She was sorry to part with her treasure, yet she knew the time had come.  She hoped it went to a good home.

Zelda thought I had gone nuts.  How could I have paid such an enormous price, beauty or not.  We would never recover our investment!

We priced the bracelet at $69,000 and hoped.  It looked gorgeous in the showcase.  Everything else on the trays looked passé.

From time to time, dealers from New York would pop in and scout our inventory.  Monroe was one such.  When he saw the Boucheron, he could hardly contain himself.  Daddy had taught him not to show joyous emotion but he failed the instruction.  He, like me, had to be the custodian of the bracelet.  After a hell of a haggle, he bought it for $55,000.

I took his check and waved it at Zelda.  “You see”, I gloated.  But that is not the end of my story.

Several months later, Monroe was on the phone.  “You remember the Boucheron bracelet.”  As if I’d forget.  “I handed it to Sotheby’s at a reserve of $50,000 in the hope that it will take off.  They promised me a free color illustration.”

Item #512 devoted one full page to a full color picture of the masterpiece and another page to a description of the piece (estimate $55,000 to $65,000) with a blurb on the House of Boucheron which read as follows:

            In 1858, Frederic Boucheron (1830-1902) opened a small shop in the

            Palais Royale section of Paris.  His success was such that, by 1893,

            he moved to a mansion in the Place Vendome, thus becoming first in

            a series of jewelers to occupy this now famous area.  The new

            premises was formerly the private residence of the Countess de

            Castiglione, a famous society beauty of the Second Empire.

            In 1931, Louis Boucheron, son of the founder, was chosen by the

            Shah of Iran to evaluate and catalogue his vast treasury of jewels

            and was designated official curator of the collection by imperial