Charles Lewis Tiffany was constantly a “just do it” type of man. One need just trace the early history of your house he established in 1838 to see a style emerge. If Charles Lewis Tiffany was going to do a business city center he may provide the approach forth as such: “What is the best there is? Let’s go out and get it.” See: the acquisition of the French crown gems in 1887, the opening of a store in London in 1891 when the precious jewelry world was controlled by European homes, then Paris in 1910, the discovery of the biggest diamond in its history in 1878, the unearthing and identifying of a pink stone called kunzite and a peachier specimen called morganite, and the generous usage of uncommon products like Montana sapphires and Russian demantoid garnets. Oh and tanzanite, that abundant blue stone discovered on Mt. Kilimanjaro in the 1960s? They presented and called that too.
It is tough to chronicle Tiffany’s historic persistence on best stones and products without pointing out the name George F. Kunz who on one eventful day around 1876 offered an unusual tourmaline to Charles Lewis Tiffany and signed up with the family company right after as an executive and chief gemologist. Sourcing the very best and the most uncommon was Kunz’s task, and his eye showed to be unrivaled. (Ask another customer of his called J.P Morgan whose stone collection curated by Kunz is now the property at the American Museum of Natural History. When news was revealed today of a suite of Tiffany Schlumberger Bird on a Rock created with the world’s rarest pearls my very first idea was: George Kunz would be happy.
Bird on a Pearl is a special high precious jewelry pill collection developed with exceptional natural saltwater pearls from Mr. Hussein Al Fardan’s personal collection. Natural pearls from the Gulf area are acknowledged as the world’s most charming. They are likewise, mainly, difficult to discover. These are the pearls so valued by royalty throughout the world, the kind you see curtained over a Queen’s corset in a picture hanging in a museum. They are real treasures gathered naturally from the sea, a procedure that has actually been affected so considerably by modifications in the environment that it almost never ever takes place any longer (without the nudging by the procedure that produces cultured pearls). And the pearls that were found in the Gulf? They were the very best. And so Tiffany, as is their custom, headed out and discovered them.
Included in the Bird on a Pearl collection, which will be revealed in Doha Qatar this month, is a three-strand pendant of finished natural saltwater white cream pearls of over 316 overall carats. There is likewise the renowned Bird on a Rock pendant with baroque, button and near-round pearls a pendant, earrings, and rings—set with uncommon natural saltwater dark gray, gray, light cream, light pinkish-brown, and white pearls. The concept of setting a gem studded bird on a stone—thus the name—was the creation of Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany. His very first styles consisted of a lpais center stone and a bird with an emerald eye. The modern-day classics consist of amethyst, citrine, and tanzantite. Last year for the very first time, a bird rested on a white diamond. Could Schlumberger, whose creativity understood no bounds and followed no set guidelines, envision this newest version? Given how uncommon natural pearls are, even Schlumberger himself may not have actually thought it might take place.
Editor In Chief
Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes is a precious jewelry specialist, and the author of Jeweler: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Design (Rizzoli).
