RAPAPORT... The annual gathering of the estate jewelry world provided a sunnier forecast than the recent doom-and-gloom of retail sales.
The Original Miami Beach Antiques Show, held January 31 through February 4, was deemed “very successful” by show manager Andrea Canady. Attendance was up 6 percent and feedback from the show was strong. “I actually spoke to one individual,” related Canady, “who said, ‘I’m not really an antique jewelry buyer, but I could not stop buying it. It’s a treasure hunt. There’s so much here and it’s so fun going through everything and there are so many booths and it’s all interesting.’”
AN IMPORTANT VENUESuch enthusiasm is one of the reasons that dealers come back year after year. Along with offering an ideal destination in winter, the show, Canady pointed out, is well-established. “This was our 46th year, and many of our dealers have been doing the show for 30 years. There are a few who even go back 40 years.” The number of jewelry dealers varies slightly from year to year, but the total remains around 275.
For Diana Singer, of D & E Singer, Inc., “The Miami Beach show is very much of a wholesale show. It’s like a big 47th Street — the attitude and the vendors and the variety of merchandise and the pricing of the merchandise. …Everybody from all over the country participates in the show and it’s a huge opportunity to buy and sell.”
“There are many ways to have a good show,” she went on to say. “You can have a good show by buying well. You can have a good show by selling a lot of stuff at a small profit. You can have a good show by selling one or two things at a big profit. Or you have a good show by making connections. If you are a dealer who knows what you’re doing, then you can accomplish all of those things at this show. And that’s what the strength of the show is; you can do all of these things in one place in six days.”
Stuart Singer, owner of Stephen L. Singer, Inc., echoed the sentiment: “It’s a unique market for the estate world because of the number of dealers in a room, able to buy and sell to each other.”
For Michael Goldstein, a dealer in antique diamonds and jewelry, “If you are a dealer in the antique jewelry business, it’s a ‘must show.’ It’s just that simple.”
SHOW TRENDS
Patrizia di Carrobio, Patrizia Ferenczi, Inc., a jewelry and precious jewels trader, summed up the show as “quietly happening,” adding “I think people were happy with their sales but I don’t think the buying was as good as in past years in general. I think there is a shortage of merchandise and prices are really high. We sold well and we bought well. Signed pieces are what everybody wants. People are much more willing to pay high prices for the very unusual than to pay cheap for commercial. We sold across the board, from Cartier bracelets, one of the more expensive items, to a pair of seashell Seaman Schepps earrings.” She cited the show’s most-wanted items as “signed, signed, signed,” Deco and “diamonds when you could put your hands on them.”
Stuart Singer rated the show as “pretty strong. …Everybody’s fighting for the same shortage of goods. At the Miami Show, it’s not so much loose stones as beautiful old pieces. Anything Deco is hot; you can’t find antique necklaces and earrings.”
According to Diana Singer, there was a major interest in yellow gold jewelry at all price points. “Gold jewelry has always been very elegant and stylish and it always will be. I did notice that very pretty things and signed things were extremely high in price.”
Goldstein agreed, “You just can’t have enough signed pieces, they’re so strong. Anything that’s interesting — bigger, signed or finer — there’s a big demand for it. The bigger it is, the finer it is, the easier it is to sell today.”
In terms of diamonds, Goldstein noted, “Antique stones and matched pairs, from 3 carat total weight and up, are in very strong demand, with the bigger, the better. Big stones are in strong demand, full stop. And there’s a lot of interest in cape goods. Nice antique engagement rings have a very strong market; the prices of fine old mountings have gone up dramatically as well.”
BUYING AND SELLING“I found about half of what I wanted and that’s probably always true,” said Stuart Singer. “I paid more than I wanted to for everything — it wasn’t [that way] a few years ago, but prices are relatively insane. On this particular trip, I was shopping for more bread-and-butter items that were going to cost me $2,500 to $7,500 rather than looking for the fabulous, which should have made it easier for me since most of the people were looking for the fabulous.”
Diana Singer’s mission at Miami was to stock up on diamond solitaires. “I’m known for pretty diamond solitaires and that’s what I went there hoping to buy. I bought everything that I could find and I sold everything at the show. People come to me regularly for pretty little secondhand engagement rings, anywhere from half carats up to 2 and 3 carats. That’s what I had with me and I sold everything.”
One singular item Diana Singer sold was a diamond-adorned Cartier compact, circa 1930s, that she rates as “quite spectacular.” Although “very impractical,” as something signed and unusual, she said, it was also “very collectible.”
Goldstein pointed out that he’s “always looking for antique jewelry and antique diamonds. I always need to buy 2-caraters” and that he was selling “matched pairs of Old Europeans, 4 to 6 to 8 total carat weights.” For him, the Miami Show is a barometer. “At the show, you get a strong sense of what the market prices are because you’ll see what you’re being offered and you’ll see what the offers are on your stones. It’s a true cash market — goods are changing hands. I bought an 8-carat pear shape, not an old stone, but I sold it and then it changed hands at least another one or two times that I know of, which is an indication of what prices are.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - March 2008. To subscribe click here.