COSTUME JEWELRY CURATOR
Neil has been a passionate, some might say obsessive, collector of vintage costume jewelry for over thirty-five years. His collection ranges from the formal Georgian Era to the Swinging Seventies, from haute couture to yard sale, from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between.
1960s MCM designer Carl Ove Frydensberg Denmark, sterling and cats-eye blue chalcedony ring. This singular Mid-Century Modern ring is done in a riff on Arts and Crafts design: a bezel-set oval cabochon of chalcedony is surrounded by a continuous chain, flanked by leaf and tendril motifs. The translucent stone is alive with sensuous movement; the workmanship is exquisite. A wildly collectible and rare artisan at his best!
EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS
Neil’s offerings span a century and a half of this particularly evocative form of decorative art.
From a delicate 1830s Georgian painted-ruby collar to a bold 1980s Yves St. Laurent Mabe pearl bracelet, his treasures offer a revealing portrait of ever-changing societies and the intimate lives within.
In the collection, you’ll find a who’s who of superb names, some familiar, some wonderfully obscure:
Haskell, Schiaparelli, Eisenberg, Joseff of Hollywood, YSL, Panetta and Pennino, Vogue and Vendome, Ciner and Cini, Mazer Bros. and McClelland Barclay, Hollycraft and Hattie Carnegie; Nina Ricci Paris, Dominique Aurientis, Marcel Boucher, DeLizza & Elster Juliana, and Alfred Philippe for Trifari.
Many periods are to be discovered here – Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, Forties, Mid-Century, and the riotous Sixties, with a nod to the designers who followed.
“There’s a magpie side of me…I’m entranced by things that sparkle.”
