Clutch the pearls!
(and gather your gold)
I am bewitched by the narratives and power embodied in jewelry. I imagine Cleopatra of Egypt, exhausted from running an empire, removing her golden serpent bracelet, encrusted with emeralds symbolizing fertility, protection and eternal life and lapis luzuli, (royalty, spirituality, wisdom) to bathe in milk, preparing to seduce Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Or the giant gemstones that Empress Catherine (the Great) of Russia would supposedly give as parting gifts to lovers— in addition to 10,000 serfs (servants) which, while completely insane to consider, is also a logistical nightmare. Where and how are you going to feed, house and clothe ten thousand people unless you sell the giant jewel you were given? I once went to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and stared for hours at their collection of Mesoamerican jewels. This 7th century death mask of Pakal the Great is made from over 346 pieces of green jade, symbolizing sacred water, breath, and regeneration with pupils of obsidian stone (prophecy, rituals.) Really makes you understand the market for tomb raiders.
I like to mark important transitions (personally, collectively) with some kind of talisman. While learning to walk again after a surgery on my right tibia fibula and ankle left me with a permanent metal rod, I bought a necklace to mark my battle scars. A double strand of Tahitian pearls (pictured at top) was a gift to myself upon turning in the final draft of my last book, as a congratulations, bitch, you did it!
On November 8th 2016, after casting my vote for the 45th presidential election, I went straight to buy myself a piece of jewelry. I wanted a talisman to provide protection and inner strength, for what I felt was coming in the next four years. I learned early on in 2016 not to express my fears aloud, because most of my “liberal elite” circles were lost in the sauce of rah rah #girlboss power and wouldn’t even consider the possibility of a different outcome. I trust magical thinking on any number of things, but not when it comes to politics. Still, a talisman couldn’t hurt. I settled on a piece of pink rose quartz, symbolizing peace, calm, and love, set as a pendant in 24k gold. Then I went home and shut off my phone, where I spent the next 10 hours binging Season 1 of The Crown.
On November 5th 2024, I bought myself another piece of jewelry. I mailed in my ballot a couple of weeks prior, voting for the first time as a Hawaii resident. Anxiety was high. I needed another talisman. This time I collaborated with artisan Amalia Ruck. I brought her some loose black pearls, symbolizing protection, independence and strength. The pearls were a gift from a long ago boyfriend, when we visited where I now live on a romantic holiday. They’d been sitting in a jewelry box for the last 12 years on a piece of black silk string. Together, Amalia and I chose aquamarine (calm, hope) and gold (endurance, shining dawn,) to complete a choker design.
I paid for the necklace with the proceeds from the sale of my wedding ring. A friend took it to a jewelry dealer for me last month in the midst of my letting go of possessions from the past. It sucks to sell your own failed marriage ring post divorce, trust me. If you ever find yourself in this situation, ask a friend to do it for you. It turned out that the diamond in the wedding band, designed by James de Givenchy of Taffin, had been chipped over time, which felt apropos.
My dad once showed me my grandmother Frances’ charm bracelet. It had a mini version of the iconic Oscar statuette in solid gold. Oscar’s stomach was tarnished. My dad said she would rub it for good luck whenever my grandfather was nominated for an Academy Award (he lost more times than he won.) I wish I knew what happened to it after my dad passed but it didn’t turn up (I blame wife no 3.)
When I worked at Sotheby’s back in the day, we had an iconic computer system (I think it was called STARZ) where you look up anyone and anything that had ever been sold at the auction house worldwide to trace provenance. Sotheby’s was founded in 1744 so STARZ was a fun resource to track the history of wealth, crime and scandal through art, ceramics, rugs and jewels. I learned during my time at Sotheby’s (a privately owned company) that auction records are not subject to public review. Which makes buying art and antiquities a very useful resource for, let’s say…oligarchs to transfer money between countries when governments are tracking their movements. If you think Hollywood is shady, the art world exists on a whole other level of unregulated wealth.
Within STARZ, in addition to the auction records were personal notes like X gave this pearl necklace to his mistress Y before his divorce from Z. I once looked up my grandmother Frances. It turned out she was a frequent secret seller of jewelry, every time she worried that my grandfather was on the verge of bankruptcy from financing a movie or gambling debt. Frances had a lifelong fear of poverty, after her father lost all the family money and drank himself to death at the age of 47.
Jewels are a good currency for women to have on hand, just in case. Especially in the days before we were allowed to own real estate. Or intellectual property, for that matter. Who knows what rights might get stripped next, so best start prepping. While billionaires build bunkers, hoard gold and watch their stocks soar, I’m looking back at some classic power moves from women with moxie.
Here’s Eartha Kitt on whether she prefers diamonds or land:
One of my favorite jewelry auctions took place in 2006 when actress Ellen Barkin, the (forth) ex wife of billionaire Ron Perelman, sold all the jewelry he gave her during their marriage. The sale at Christie’s was legendary, netting $20.3 million dollars. It also inspired an episode of Sex and The City. Here’s an excerpt from The New York Post that year:
Among Barkin’s goodies from Perelman are a reported $1.5 million apricot diamond ring that he gave her just a month before he abruptly served her with divorce papers on Jan. 19; an emerald and gold cuff originally designed for the Duchess of Windsor; and four diamond engagement rings.
Barkin tells this month’s Vogue magazine that she wants to dump all the jewels from her ex as they only remind her of their nightmare $20 million breakup, during which he had security men installed in their Upper East Side mansion until she moved out.
“For other people, they’re pieces of jewelry; for me, they have history . . . I’ll take a break from the jeweled-trophy-wife look.” The first such gift was a Cartier watch – with an estimated $10,000 price tag – for her birthday just two weeks after the pair met.
The last one, the 32-carat apricotcolored diamond ring, by Brooklyn-born jeweler Joel Arthur Rosenthal, is expected to go for much more than the $1.5 million Perelman paid.
Despite their astronomical value, Barkin tells Vogue, she never treated her jewels all that well – sometimes getting others to mind them.
“I’m either holding the diamond or it’s in my pocket.
Later, I’m about to do the laundry and I’m like, ‘What’s this?’ ” Barkin says.
Even a copy of the 2006 auction catalog for Barkin’s sale retails for between $300-500.
A seriously chic, internationally best dressed woman who prefers not to be named (but she’s reading, hi!) once showed me her jewelry box in Paris. As she pulled out each piece, she recounted which lover had given her these pink sapphire earrings and this diamond Cartier pinkie ring. I was 24 and entranced, dreaming of the day I would have my own velvet lined box full of treasures. In my fantasy each compartment of the box is marked with the gilt embossed initials of a different lover. In reality, I have a chipped wedding ring and a couple pieces of costume jewelry to show so far.
Maybe one needs to be a Hollywood star or French to have enough je ne sais quoi to collect such precious objects from men. During La Belle Époque, the famous courtesans and stars of the Folies Bergère in Paris, were known to appear positively dripping in jewels from their lovers. Three of my favorite femme fatales from this period were Emilienne d’Alençon, who possessed a corset made entirely of diamonds made for her by Cartier, perhaps given to her by her lover, Leopold II of Belgium; and rivals Liane de Pougy and La Belle Otero, (a.k.a. Caroline Otero.)
Liane kept a lifelong diary, published posthumously as My Blue Notebooks, where she recorded her days as a star, including details about her wardrobe (often made by couturier Paul Poiret, the first to make pants for women,) her jewels, gifts from admirers, and her lovers. Though she lived as a temptress, Liane ended up joining a convent before her death in order to redeem her sins. La Belle Otero was a flamboyant Spanish dancer who earned more riches than any of her contemporaries but lost them all to her favorite pastime: gambling.
According to one oft repeated tale of Liane and La Belle’s feuding, each woman kept tally of who had the most jewels. As an affront to La Belle, Liane went to the opera in a beautiful black velvet gown but with her neck bare, followed by her maid, who carried a plush pillow laden with mounds of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls. In comparison, wearing rings on each finger, diamonds round her neck and wrists, and diadem’s dripping from her brow, La Belle looked positively vulgar.
I’d rather be vulgar. As for whether I’d prefer jewels or land as a gift from a lover, why not both? I’ll take gold too, just in case anyone is wondering. Crypto bros need not apply.
obsessed with the jewel holding cushion, wonder where I can apply for this job
I heartily agree with buying yourself jewelry to mark occasions!