Vice President of Christies Jewelry Department

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Daphne Lingon

Daphne was a charming and enthusiastic lecturer. Her coverage of the workings and processes within the famous Christies auction house gave the audience an intimate look into the world of fine jewelry transactions. Tales of the provenance of the items that passed through her hands were intriguing and educational. Her presentation included the sub-topics of Client Service which gave us a lighthearted insight on how to appease and please clients under the stress of fallen souffles and tiaras. First hand experiences with walk-ins led to some surprising finds, like a Cartier bracelet with Kashmir sapphires that sold for 2 million dollars in 2002 make her job fun and exciting.

Chapter President Toby Fitzkee

Signature pieces, like an almost overlooked fancy yellow diamond ring and an unsigned orchid brooch, as well as a Louis Comfort Tiffany necklace, whose signature holding clasp had been removed, were one of her sub-topics, which covered the difficult job of verification. To make things more exciting, facts like L. C. Tiffany not signing his pieces until his father had died, was precious information for those of us who do appraisal work and actually may see one of these pieces.

Kusam Malhotra and Ira Kramer

We heard about fierce competition between auction houses and were treated to spectacular pictures of jewels like a magnificent pink topaz necklace by Vedura and a stunning cabochon�citrine neckpiece by Seaman Schepps.

(Right) Brenda Forman, Ira and Davia Kramer, (Left) Allison Brady and Doris Voigt

Her stories of rare diamonds and colored gems included the 62.2 carat Rockefeller sapphire, which sold for 3 million dollars, and a 1.72 carat fancy yellow-green turn-of-the-century-diamond ring that sold for 1 million dollars. An unusual Cartier signed necklace that had all of its colored gems removed was given an estimated selling price of $6000 to $8000 and sold for a surprising $55,000 dollars.
Tony Conway with raffle tickets

Celebrities and the stories of their jewels, from Evita to the colorful history of Doris Duke, added additional sparkle to a very memorable evening.

Written by Denise Nelson

Photos by Bill Scherlag