Collecting 101

1.

History

Charles Lewis Tiffany opened a stationery and fancy goods store in 1837 with two partners. In 1838 they moved the store to 259 Broadway in New York City, where it was filled with rare luxury items. Jewellery was popular from the start in the busy store. In 1853, Tiffany took complete control, began using the name “Tiffany & Co.”, moved to a larger space, and focused on jewellery, stones, and silver.

“A palace of jewels”

The name Tiffany became synonymous with rare and colourful jewellery. The New York Times referred to the store as “a palace of jewels”. In 1878, Tiffany made a bold move that would forever link the company to rare jewellery by purchasing an astonishing 287.42-carat rough yellow diamond. Cut into a 128.54-carat polished fancy yellow, with 82 facets, the diamond became known as The Tiffany Diamond: Audrey Hepburn wore it in the publicity photographs for Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961, Lady Gaga wore it at the 2019 Oscars and Beyoncé recently wore the stone in an ad campaign. The stone is on display today at the Fifth Avenue flagship store.

In 1886, Tiffany introduced the raised 6-prong setting that has become a classic engagement ring design for more than a century, known as the Tiffany setting. In 1887, Charles Lewis Tiffany purchased nearly one third of the French Crown Jewels at an auction at the Louvre Museum, earning himself the nickname “The King of Diamonds”. He brought the stones back to America to offer them to financiers and industrialists looking to spend their new-found wealth.

2.

The Early Influencers: Paulding Farnham, George Kunz, and Tiffany

The combination of excellent materials and creative design has been an integral part of Tiffany & Co.’s since the company’s outset. One of their young designers, Paulding Farnham designed a series of unusually realistic enamel orchid brooches for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle that are still astonishing today and sought after by collectors and museums. He was singled out for his “fertility of imagination and power of invention”. Farnham’s designs, and a mineral display from Tiffany & Co. gemmologist George Frederick Kunz, won a gold medal for the firm – the first such award won by an American company.

Farnham’s work was also notable for its use of native materials. The company sourced nearly all their metal and stones from the United States thanks to the work of Kunz, Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemmologist for more than 50 years. Montana Sapphires, tourmalines from Maine, and Mississippi freshwater pearls were some of the unusual stones he unearthed. When a pink stone sample found in California in 1902 was sent to Kunz, he found it to be a new colour of spodumene, the stone was named Kunzite after him. This was just the beginning of dazzling stones unveiled by the company in subsequent years including morganite found in Madagascar and named for customer John Pierpont Morgan in 1910 as well as introducing tanzanite in 1967 and tsavorite in 1974.

Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature-inspired jewels

With the death of founder Charles Louis Tiffany in 1902, his son, Louis Comfort Tiffany was named vice president and began designing jewellery. He has spent years perfecting his eye in the stained-glass studio and brought a similar aesthetic into his jewellery construction, favouring shimmering luminous stones such as opal, moonstones, and Montana sapphires recommended by Kunz. Though his relationship with Farnham was often contentious, Tiffany’s delicate, colourful Arts & Crafts creations were simply astonishing. His nature-inspired jewels featured berries and flowers on vines that expressed the celebratory movement and colour of the Art Nouveau period, and he experimented with small coloured stones and enamel against filigree work, often with as much attention paid to the chain and the clasp as to the central stone element. These pieces are still treasured today and often exceed their auction estimates when they come to the market.

3.

The Enduring Tiffany Blue Book and Modern Designers

Tiffany & Co. published their first direct-mail order catalogue in 1845, and the cover was the iconic robin’s egg colour leading to the publication becoming known as “The Tiffany Blue Book.” What started out as a concise text-only listing of inventory has evolved with the times.

“A Schlumberger lights up a whole room!”

In the 1950s, the book showcased Tiffany & Co.’s partnership with Jean Schlumberger, who created fantastical necklaces, bold enamel bangles, and eye-catching creatures worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo, and Jacqueline Kennedy. A self-taught jeweller, Schlumberger said “I want to capture the irregularity of the universe”. From 1956 until his retirement in the late 1970s, Schlumberger had a private salon at Tiffany & Co. where he created his iconic designs, including some if his most eye catching and wearable pieces. One such example is the spectacular Hedges and Rows necklace. A whimsical take on a garden, the necklace features foliate forms full of movement and colour. The Scarf necklace is another acclaimed design, where contrasting stones create the sense of swags of textiles. Diana Vreeland, former Editor of Vogue and who was known for keeping a Schlumberger jewel on her own nightstand, once wrote that Schlumberger “appreciates the miracle of jewels. For him, they are the ways and means to the realisation of his dreams. A Schlumberger lights up a whole room!” A select few of Schlumberger’s designs are still made by Tiffany & Co. today.

Modern Designers

In the 1970s, designers Paloma Picasso, Elsa Peretti, and Angela Cummings followed with their fluid, wearable pieces. Iconic designs include Picasso’s open hearts made with a flowing sketchbook style, Peretti’s Bean and Bone Cuff, and Cummings’s checkerboard earrings and bangles inlaid with hardstone and her Lentil necklace. Today, the Tiffany Blue Book shows rare high jewellery.