The Jewelry Brief Style Setters 2010: Thank you for a great year!

As 2010 draws to a close I would like to thank some the many people who made this year of briefs current, informative and witty.

A big thank you to the Style Setters, who took time out of busy schedules to share their creative inspirations and insights.

Many thanks:

Roberto Faraone Menella and Amedeo Scognamiglio of Faraone Menella

Etienne Perret

Banafseh Fatooriechie and Maryam Sardi of Faso

Evelyn Huang of Evelyn H

Sami Zeira

Pamela Froman

Melissa Joy Manning

Thank you to Jen Cullen, Joseph DePalma & Michael Perret for always thinking of me.

And a special thank you to Gail Brett Levine, Executive Director of the  National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, for her constant encouragement.

And finally, to my biggest fan, my sister, Merry Christmas.

To all of my readers, I wish you the happiest of holidays & all the best for 2011.

April

Tales from the Appraiser’s Desk: David Yurman Before the Cable

Recently, while conducting an estate appraisal I came across this necklace. Dated ’75, it was in keeping with the style and time period of the jewelry in the collection I was appraising. But this particular one was signed David Yurman.

Very exciting! My first step was to e-mail Patricia Faber of Aaron Faber Gallery in New York. Patricia is a wealth of information on artist jewelry. She confirmed that it probably was an early necklace by “the” David Yurman, and not by another artist of the same name. Next, I contacted the David Yurman Company. In very short time, they authenticated the necklace for me.

In the meantime, I did my own research on the jewelry artist now synonymous with silver cable jewelry and luxe lifestyle. Born in 1942, David Yurman grew up on Long Island, N.Y. He discovered his creative and artistic abilities at an early age through the medium of sculpture. In the 60′s he was apprentice to the master sculptor Jaccques Lipshitz. After spending time in an artist colony in California, David returned to Greenwich Village where he met his wife Sybil. Together they formed a lasting artistic partnership. They opened Putnam Art Works the precursor to the brand of the David Yurman Company, which was created in 1980. In 1983 David Yurman launched the iconic cable jewelry collection and the rest is history. The company celebrates its 30^th anniversary this year.