Estate Jewelry: Raymond Yard

Thursday night was the Fall meeting for the north east coast American Society of Jewelry Historians (ASJH) (http://www.jewelryhistorians.org). Their guest speaker for the evening, author and historian Natasha Kuzmanovic. The topic, Kuzmanovic’s new book, YARD: The Life and Magnificent Jewelry of Raymond C. Yard.

Held at the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) http://www.fitnyc.edu/html/dynamic.html on 7th Avenue in Manhattan, Kuzmanovic quickly and effortlessly took us back to the turn of the 20th century, and told us about a young man who was thrust into the jewelry trade by chance. Raymond’s father, a New Jersey train conductor, befriended Herman Marcus, founder of the famed jewelry firm Marcus & Company. Young Raymond worked for Marcus & Co., climbing his way up the ladder, till eventually he struck out on his own, becoming one of New York City’s high society jewelers. He did this by focusing on top quality stones set in top quality gold and platinum designs and manufacture – along with, of course, having a few very wealthy clients follow him from Marcus & Co.

One of those clients who followed Yard to his upstairs “by appointment” salon was a fellow named John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Rockefeller recommended Yard to all of his friends, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Yard firm existed with its founder from the 1920s through 1950s. Yard catered to the families of wealth, the Flaglers (Sr. Rockefeller’s partner), the Woolworths, the duPonts, and the Vanderbilts, as well as movie stars such as husband and wife Douglas Fairbanks Jr.and Joan Crawford.

Known for mixing gems with different styles of cutting, Yard began to design jewelry using round brilliants with straight baguettes. Once established, he expanded that with shields, trapezoids, etc., to give his pieces not only a special appearance, but creating not bling, but what Kuzmanovic called “shimmer.”

Kuzmanovic’s research allowed her access to original special order and stock jewelry books from Yard, detailing every piece ever made; 36,000 special orders, 10,000 stock pieces, including details of the metals used, the stones, the client names, and stock numbers. This would include such famous pieces as the Rockefeller sapphire, a magnificent 62 carat Burmese rectangular step cut, set into a brooch re-designed by Yard.

In stark contrast of the many documented Rockefeller pieces, including many strands of natural pearls, still in existence, Joan Crawford’s bracelet was made from previous jewelry gifts, including another Yard bracelet and earrings, including an engagement ring from Fairbanks Jr., jewelry all made and re-used by Yard.

Platinum diamond and ruby clips, straight line bracelets with calibre-cut gems from the 20s and 30s, gold, colored sapphires and moonstone from the 40s, diamond enamel and few colored gemstone set rabbits from the 50s, all recognizable as Yard: classic style with the use of multiple shaped gems. Yard retired after 60 years in business.

Kuzmanovic’s book is a detailed vision of a man insisting on the highest quality in his jewelry and in the way he lived his life. With marvelous images of jewelry, many photographs by renowned jewelry photographer David Behl, Kuzmanovic’s book will make a great holiday gift this season (HINT!).

For those jewelers in the New York area, you should mark your calendar now, joining the Jewelry Historians for their next meeting on December 6th, with guest speaker Michael Coan, chair of jewelry design studies at F.I.T., who will speak on “Guidelines, Timelines, and Social Significance; Why was it important back then, and why we still love it today.”

For more information about the historians, log onto their website at http://www.jewelryhistorians.org.