Episode 147 Part 2: Understanding Jewelry in the 21st Century: How a Classic Jewelry Book Continues to Shape the Field

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why even the most skilled jewelry experts should be open to learning new things
• Which jewels stand out the most out of the thousands of pieces Daniela has seen over her 40-year career
• How Daniela and her co-author David Bennett have updated their seminal book, “Understanding Jewelry,” for the 21st century
• Why the public has started to appreciate jewelry for its artistic value rather than just its intrinsic value
• Why a strong jewelry collection doesn’t have to include hundreds of pieces

About Daniela Mascetti

Daniela Mascetti is one of the jewelry world's most experienced scholars specializing in the history of jewelry. Daniela joined Sotheby’s in 1980, and soon after opened the firm’s Jewelry department in Milan. After a distinguished career of 40 years at Sotheby’s, she was appointed Chairman Jewelry, Europe, a position she retained until 2020.

As one of the most renowned and experienced of scholars specializing in the history of jewelry, highlights from Daniela's distinguished career include research for the sales of historic collections such as the Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor (1987) and The Princely Collections of Thurn und Taxis (1992), Elton John, Maria Callas and Gina Lollobrigida. Most recently she was responsible for the academic research for the record-breaking sale of Royal Jewels from the Bourbon-Parma Family which included treasures from Queen Marie Antoinette. Daniela also provided research for the auction Castellani & Giuliano: The Judith H. Siegel Collection held in New York, a landmark event which reinvigorated the interest in and demand for revivalist jewels.

Daniela regularly lectures on jewelry and was responsible for Sotheby’s Institute of Art Jewelry Courses. She is co-author with David Bennett of the best-selling reference book Understanding Jewelry and Celebrating Jewelry, published in 2012. She has also co-written The Necklace from Antiquity to the Present, Earrings from Antiquity to the Present and a Bulgari monograph with Amanda Triossi. In 2021, Daniela and David launched a unique website showcasing their unparalleled experience and knowledge in the field of jewelry.

Daniela Mascetti grew up between Lake Maggiore, Lake Varese and Lake Como and graduated in Archaeology from the University of Milan, where she developed the analytical skills required for the dating, researching and valuing of historical jewels.

Additional Resources:

Website:

https://www.understanding-jewellery.com/

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/understandingjewellery/

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/UnderstandingJewellery

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/UJewellery_

LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/19192787

Transcript:

Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. Here at the Jewelry Journey, we’re about all things jewelry. With that in mind, I wanted to let you know about an upcoming jewelry conference, which is “Beyond Boundaries: Jewelry of the Americas.” It’s sponsored by the Association of the Study of Jewelry and Related Arts or, as it’s otherwise known, ASJRA. The conference takes place virtually on Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and May 22, which is around the corner. For details on the program and the speakers, go to www.jewelryconference.com. Non-members are welcome. I have to say that I’ve attended this conference for several years, and it’s one of my favorite conferences. It’s a real treat to be able to sit in your pajamas or in comfies in your living room and listen to some extraordinary speakers. So, check it out. Register at www.jewelryconference.com. See you there.

This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guest is Daniela Mascetti, a well-known name in the high-end world of jewelry and auctions. She spent four decades at Sotheby’s and holds the position of Senior Specialist Worldwide. She’s co-author with David Bennett of the bible for jewelry professionals, “Understanding Jewelry.” If you haven’t heard part one, please go to TheJewelryJourney.com. Welcome back. 

Flipping through the book—I tend to look at books starting from the back forward. There was a comment about jewelry being seen as art as well as jewelry more recently. I wish I’d written down the comment, but it intrigued me because it was a comment about art jewelry. I tend to think of that as something with no gems, but more with plastic or wood or whatever.

Daniela: What I think we wanted to say is that when we started in the jewelry field—I started in 1980, David in 1974 or 1975, I think—jewels were just seen as extremely valuable items. They were available to display gems. I remember vividly, in the early 1980s, beautiful Art Déco cloche brooches set with diamonds being bought by members of the trade that used to deal in diamonds. These beautiful Art Déco pieces were going to be dismantled just for their intrinsic content. That was 1985, 1986, 1989. 

Then gradually the general public started to look at jewels as a form of art. As you buy a painting, as you buy a sculpture, as you buy a lovely piece of ceramic, the public started to look at buying jewels for their artistic value rather than just for the intrinsic value. When I started, the composition of the showroom at Sotheby’s—if I was a Christie’s, I would have had exactly the same situation—was entirely made up of members of the trade. Perhaps one private buyer, two at most. Nowadays—or at least for a moment when I stopped working back in 2019—it was a 50/50 split, so a great amount of private people buying for the pleasure of acquiring an item that was unique for its sole artistic value.

Sharon: What do you think changed that people started seeing it as an artistic item?

Daniela: One thing that contributed was “Understanding Jewelry,” the bible as you say, which brought the history of jewelry design to a large public. They started to read the story, the history behind each piece of jewelry, and then a plethora of books started to be written on the subject of jewels. I remember when I started, there were probably 10 books dedicated to the history of jewelry design—forget about gemology and all that. Now, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books on the subject. All these have contributed to persuade or open the public to the concept of jewels as a collectable field. 

Of course, there is a very strong connection between the artistic weight and the intrinsic weight. It’s always a combination of the two, but it is interesting to see how the public has started to appreciate jewels for their artistic value independently from the intrinsic value. There will always be the clients who go for the 16 carats, the flawless diamond as a status symbol, as a showoff, but more and more, the public is opening up to smaller items that can tell a story.

Sharon: Tell us about the business of UnderstandingJewelry.com, because there’s so much. I know you’re just starting out, but it’s so much.

Daniela: It just started up. If you’ve read the book, “Understanding Jewelry,” the book keeps on growing. I thought we could have subscriptions so you can subscribe and get the book continuously bringing information to you, but then we thought, once we started a website, why don’t we try to do more with it? Apart from the academic part of the website that is dedicated the book, we have several other offers. We have courses online done through Zoom. Call them courses, call them seminars. They are groups of lectures on different subjects. For the time being, we’ve done one on Art Déco that I think was well-received. 

We are planning many more, but we’re also concentrating on proper seminars on the field. The first will be in France, starting in Burgundy and ending up in Paris. It will be a combination of lectures and experiences. It will be lectures on jewels, experiences in Burgundy. There will be culinary experiences in restaurants and wine tastings, visiting wonderful chateaux, visiting historic places such as the Cluny Abbey. Then in Paris, we’ll be visiting museums and some of the grand maisons of jewelry: Cartier, Boucheron, Chaumet, Melediaux. That is on the academic side. We also offer valuation and advisory services. Many of the clients from Sotheby’s came back to us for advice to keep augmenting their collections or slim down the collection. 

What else do we do? We are just about to launch what will be called Hidden Gems, a part of the website where we present jewels we have found in locations such as London, Geneva and New York to start with, and that perhaps the public at large would not find because they are not sitting in the windows of jewelers of the mainstream. They are little gems in the sense of jewelry, hidden treasurers in the sense that they are the perfect example of the kind of jewelry that’s hard to find. It could be a perfect Art Déco double-clip brooch. It could be the perfect 19th century pendant sitting with a member of the trade that does not have a shop front. It will always be something we choose ourselves. We will not be persuaded to put something on our website if we do not believe it is worth being on the website. What I can say is that David and I are completely independent. We put together the website entire