A few weeks ago at our reception for jewelry designer Bergio, some of our clients asked him how he conceived of his designs.  His reply was, “I get an idea, I sketch it and then I fax it to the factory in Italy.  They look at it, work out what is practical to make, then send me their version of my sketch.  I approve it if I like it; if I don’t, I send them another version of my first sketch and we start all over again.  We do this until I like their proposal, then we make it”  Some of his listeners accepted this, but others saw it as a “contamination” of the creative process.  For them let me relate a story about Andy Warhol often told by the late Harry Boros, a Chicago Professor of Classics and art critic.  Back in the 1960’s Andy made the cover of “Time” magazine and his fame led a wealthy Long Island matron to ask him to do her portrait.  He quoted a price of $70,000 for the commission; and she agreed.  Then she asked when she must “sit” for her portrait.  Andy averred that she would not have to “sit” but that she would have to meet him in New York’s Grand Central Station. (more…)

I had an odd phone call a few minutes ago.  It came from a man who wanted to know what the strand of cultured pearls his wife had won in a contest were worth.  I explained that I really couldn’t assess their value over the phone; but on learning they were Chinese fresh water cultured pearls of smallish to middling size I replied that they were most likely worth less than $800.  That satisfied him; but it left me with a few stray thoughts I needed to work out.  I wondered if I should have made even that broad estimate for him.  In point of fact, the strand’s intrinsic value could have ranged from less than ten dollars to several thousands of dollars, depending on their shapes, colors, smoothness of their skins, sizes and the length of the strand; and I don’t know what emotional value his wife placed on them.  Were they important as a statement of her success or . . .?  In a very real sense the value of most jewelry, no matter whether it is received as a gift or is a self-purchase, is its emotional content. (more…)