In an interview with Town And Country, third-generation jeweler Lee Siegelson divulged the ever-expanding world of jewelry and his family's 100-year endeavor to discover more rarified pieces.
When asked about his favorite jewelry lesson, Siegelson said "I’m not sure it’s a legend, but rather an excellent story of happenstance. I had been looking through a rare old catalogue of jewelry owned by Lillian Timken from an auction at Parke-Bernet in 1960. And I fell in love with a Cartier Art Deco-carved emerald and sapphire necklace. It was a terrible grainy picture and the connections were at an odd angle, but I just new this was a major piece that you are lucky to see in a lifetime. And just a few weeks after I set it as the screen saver on my computer, someone emailed me a picture of the actual necklace. I bought it without even seeing it."
Siegelson was later asked about the one jewel that he'd regrettably passed over, saying "The work of Gerard Sandoz is very rare and very important. He made fantastic jewelry for only a brief time at the height of the Art Deco period, from 1920–1931. A charming, restless character, he was known to enjoy parties at Maxim’s and eventually left the family business of jewelry making for a modest film career. The jewelry he made is an absolutely pure exploration of geometric shapes in varied materials, colors, and finishes that combine to
Information originally sourced from Town And Country.
