Introducing T&C's New Old Guard Portfolio
Why, I wondered out loud in December while viewing the historic jewels of a living collector being sold at Christie’s, would someone sell this? “Because a collector never stops collecting,” said a knowledgeable source. “These pieces will move on, but they are already searching for the next.” The relentless pursuit of beauty was certainly the theme of that weekend at Rockefeller Center. Diana Vreeland’s Belperron cuff was in one gallery; Mica Ertegun’s Jansen palm trees and ruby JAR torsade were in another. By the next week they had found new homes, and if my source is right, at some point in the future they may find themselves back in these halls, as their current owners indulge in the constant cycle of the devoted collector.
Here, we delve into that and other questions pertaining to this rare species. Can a collector be carefully taught? Is there a new breed brewing? How young is too young to start? We also remind ourselves— and you—that collections are not always made of objects. Memories too are prized items. —Stellene Volandes
How Joseph Duveen Taught America to Collect Art
The late art impresario, who counted Fricks and Mellons among his clients, practically invented the modern art dealer—and buyer. By David Netto
If the case can be made that the greatest collector of modern times was not a collector at all but an art dealer—Sir Joseph Duveen, in later life Lord Duveen of Millbank, proprietor of the Duveen Brothers gallery and robber baron–whisperer of Frick, Mellon, Kress, Widener, Altman, Huntington, Hearst, and many others—the book to make it is Duveen’s eponymous 1952 biography by S.N. Behrman. Read More
Most Movie Stars Borrow Jewels for the Red Carpet. Not Jennifer Tilly.
Yes, the actress is wearing Liz Taylor’s brooch on the red carpet. And then she takes it home. By Stellene Volandes
“I collect what I love,” says actress Jennifer Tilly. She references a recent auction that sent other jewelry collectors into a frenzy. She resisted. “The pieces were historical but not to my taste.” Reviewing the pieces that have passed the Tilly test—the Paul Flato aquamarine and ruby buckle necklace (worn above), the Boivin starfish brooch—that taste becomes evident. “I like big, sculptural pieces,” she says. She also believes “jewelry has energy. Before you buy anything, try it on. You will feel it.” Read More
A Jewelry Designer Delivers a Masterclass on Collecting Miniatures
Snooping is encouraged chez Beth Hutchens. By Leena Kim
“I don’t know if it’s an inherited trait, but I come from a long line of collectors who were both inquisitive and acquisitive,” Beth Hutchens says. “Sometimes it can be a problem.” Read More
How Young Is Too Young to Start an Art Collection?
It will take more than just a trust fund to get them to sell you that painting. By Leena Kim
I don't think there is a right or wrong age,” says Coplan Kaufman, an art advisor based in Los Angeles. “It’s just when someone feels comfortable spending the money and wants to support the arts, as well as make smart financial decisions. I see a lot of people who drop thousands of dollars on furniture but always fall short when it comes to art. A $15,000 sofa loses value the moment you sit on it.” Read More
Catch Them If You Can
There has never been a more innovative time in watchmaking. You’re going to want in. By Stephen Watson
The Flex
Patek Philippe’s Grand Complications will always win a collector’s heart. This Reference 5236P is a paragon of sotto voce eleganza with a vintage-inspired opaline rose gilt dial, white gold hands and markers finished in charcoal gray, and a diamond hidden on the side of the platinum case at 6 o’clock. But the true pièce de résistance is the triple-patented in-line perpetual calendar, which displays the day, date, and month. Patek Philippe In Line Perpetual Calendar watch ($141,400)
The Trompe l’Oeil
Louis Vuitton Escale à Asnieres pocket watch
The Grail
A winner of the Challenge Prize at this year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (the watch world’s Oscars), the Otsuka Lotec No. 6 is collector catnip purely because it’s so hard to get. It’s available only in Japan, and if you do find it, your Amex won’t do: It must be purchased with a local credit card. This is how a watch myth is born. Otsuka Lotec No. 6 watch ($2,860)
The OG
Precision meets pure visual drama in Rolex’s latest gem-set version of the Cosmograph Daytona, which has been elevated to new heights with such luxurious details as black-and-white mother-of-pearl dials and dozens of brilliant-cut diamonds. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ($73,000)
The Natural
Ingeniously manipulating precious gems so they mimic lifelike movement is a signature of Van Cleef & Arpels. So when you see the flowers on this Brise d’Eté watch fluttering as if caught in a breeze, rest assured your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Brise d’Eté watch ($175,000)
The Wild Card
Berneron, co-founded in 2022 by Sylvain and Marie-Alix Berneron, a stylish couple of watch world veterans, has quickly risen to the top of every collector’s wish list. The curvy Mirage, which feels strangely familiar and yet entirely new, exemplifies the brand’s fresh and idiosyncratic take on the craft. Berneron Mirage lapis lazuli watch ($60,518)
The Classic
What if you could turn back time? Cartier offers a literal take on the question with the Rewind. On the surface this looks like a red lacquered version of the Santos, with the Art Deco lines and refined proportions for which the style is famous. On the inside, though, is a movement that runs backward. After all, time is just perspective, right? Cartier Santos-Dumont watch
How Many Teenagers Do You Know Who Spend Their Free Time Doing This?
Magnus Lansing is not your average 17-year-old. By Leena Kim
Procrastination, for most high school students, involves scrolling TikTok and sampling products at Sephora. Not for Magnus Lansing. His idea of putting off homework is taking a notepad and walking around Nolita (the downtown NYC neighborhood where he lives) to discover unique 19th- and early-20th-century buildings to study and recreate in detailed drawings. Read More
How Nicolas Guérin Turned His Dollhouse Dreams Into High Art
Step aside, Stettheimer! By Leena Kim
“Dollhouse school doesn’t exist, of course,” Nicolas Guérin says, though if there ever were such a thing, he could be its dean. The Parisian dollhouse maker had no formal training in his craft apart from the architecture and art history courses he took in college—and an obsession with houses that began in childhood. Read More
Anthony Spinello is Looking for the Next Basquiat
The Miami gallerist is a fixture in one of the most lucrative nodes in the global art market and, at 42, one of the youngest dealers in town. By Erik Maza
Miami is now one of the stations of the cross for the art world’s jetset. But when Anthony Spinello opened his namesake gallery in 2005 out of his walk-up apartment, the Miami area was, charitably, a cultural backwater. Art Basel Miami Beach was just three years into becoming a major fair. Read More
Timothy Hull Believes in Beauty
The artist, whose new solo show opens this month in Atlanta, is here to delivery more than just pretty paintings, however. By Leena Kim
“I do think beauty is important,” Timothy Hull says, “and I want my work to be beautiful—as well as intellectually engaging. That’s the challenge.” Read More
Cartier Unleashes Its Imagination—Again
Creative freedom, it turns out, is a very wise investment. By Stellene Volandes
Last December a Cartier Art Deco brooch estimated to sell for $100,000 to $150,000 went for almost $1.4 million at Christie’s New York. The piece—of natural pearl, tourmaline, ruby, onyx, and diamonds—was part of the collection of tastemaker Mica Ertegun, which is a partial explanation. But for jewelry experts the key to the high bid is this phrase in the catalog: “Cartier, Art Deco.” Read More
Is Sophocles the New Jeremy O. Harris?
This season the West End’s hottest playwright brings a bit of history to the stage. By Norman Vanamee
It’s no use denying there’s a thrill that comes from things that are new, especially when we’re talking about playwrights. Just look to London, where this spring Ewan McGregor will return to the stage for the first time in nearly two decades to star in My Master Builder, a new play by Lila Raicek (it’s her West End debut). And last season Jeremy O. Harris arrived in the West End with Slave Play and won raves (on top of the 12 Tony nominations the play earned during its Broadway run). Read More
Dress for Success
For one collector, what began as a trove of vintage fashion has become a new creative calling. By Adam Rathe
“I didn’t know I was a collector,” says the writer and producer Keli Goff, “until I started speaking with curators about what I have.” What she has is a collection of vintage clothing that comprises nearly 150 pieces by Black designers like Patrick Kelly, Stephen Burrows, and Ann Lowe (seen above). Read More
A Legacy of Dumplings
At Din Tai Fung, a third generation enters the fold. By Adam Rathe
When the first Din Tai Fung opened in Taipei, in 1972, the restaurant had four tables. Its owners, the Yang family, lived upstairs. Fifty-three years later the Yangs oversee an empire that doles out Shanghai-style soup dumplings—their delicate skins folded 18 times each—among other delicacies, in more than 165 restaurants around the world. However, for brothers Aaron and Albert Yang, who earlier this year were named co-CEOs of the brand’s North American operation, things are just getting started. Read More
Blade Runners
The siblings behind Messermeister just might be the sharpest sisters in the drawer. By Adam Rathe
“We didn’t even tell you what makes us mad,” says Chelcea Dressler-Crowley. We’re talking about Messermeister, the premium knife company founded by her parents and taken over in 2017 by Dressler-Crowley and her sister Kirsten Dressler Wilson after their father’s death. So what is it? Read More
Into the Glace
Sugar impresario Sasha Zabar would never go against the family. By Adam Rathe
“It was important to me,” Sasha Zabar says, “to have something that felt like mine.” Despite hailing from the first family of New York food, and having held jobs at his father Eli’s eateries, Zabar went out on his own to launch Glace, an ice cream parlor that has become a sensation thanks to inventive sundaes and photogenic hot chocolate. Read More
Anatomy of a Classic: The Celine 16
Never underestimate the power of a great first impression. By Leena Kim
When you need to make an entrance, you call Lady Gaga. To announce his arrival at the helm of Celine in 2018, Hedi Slimane enlisted the performer to tote around his first handbag for the maison, months before its official release. An expertly engineered celebrity blitz is a smart move, no doubt, but it’s just as telling that Slimane’s very first sketch as Celine’s new creative maestro (a post he held for six years before stepping down last October) wasn’t of the bouclé jackets, A-line minis, or $1,350 jeans that would become his ready-to-wear signatures. It was of this handbag, known as the 16. Read More
From SOMM to CEO
Master sommelier Carlton McCoy is taking a fresh look at the wine business. By Norman Vanamee
“The word disruptor needs rebranding,” says Carlton McCoy, the 40-year-old president and CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates. “I like to look at how things are done and see if there’s a better way, but it's not like I want to blow up the wine industry and make a billion dollars.” McCoy is speaking from his office in Napa Valley, where he has spent the past six years, well, disrupting the wine business. “Actually, a billion dollars would be nice.” Read More
Driver’s Ed, Formula 1 Style
An exclusive club welcomes a fresh young face. By Norman Vanamee
Can a teenager be part of the old guard? This spring 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli joins the small cast of drivers who will race in Formula 1’s 2025 season. Kimi, as he’s called, fills a slot on the Mercedes team that opened when 40-year-old Lewis Hamilton announced he was moving to Ferrari. Read More
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