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Fred Leighton’s Personal Collection Up for Sale
His love for antique jewelry will be evident at the auction, scheduled for April 18 at Sotheby’s New York.
This bow brooch from Cartier, circa 1910, features an old European-cut diamond at center accented with old mine, old European round and single-cut diamonds. It’s estimated to garner between $50,000 and $70,000.
New York--Fred Leighton’s public pieces were well-known, as they were worn on the red carpet regularly, but soon his personal collection will be in the spotlight.
On April 18, directly following the sale of Magnificent Jewels, Sotheby’s New York will hold “The Jeweler’s Eye: The Personal Collection of Fred Leighton.”
Leighton’s jewelry journey started in the 1960s in New York’s Greenwich Village, where he had a shop selling Mexican crafts, silver and folk pieces.
After seeing that Mexican wedding gowns were gaining in popularity, as well as the accompanying accessories, he sought greater opportunities in the sale of Mexican and Native American silver jewelry, which eventually led him to find his ultimate passion, Victorian-era pieces.
In the early 1970s he moved his store to Madison Avenue, long before it was populated with high-end shops.
His love and appreciation for period jewelry as collectible meant that his stores were filled with exceptional and unique pieces that found their way to museums, private collections and, eventually, onto the red carpet. As an early proponent of Art Deco-style jewelry and decorative arts, Leighton’s fascination with various periods reinvigorated the market for antique pieces that had fallen out of style.
His appreciation for the eras, as well as rare and artistic pieces, is well represented in the lots on offer at Sotheby’s this month.
It includes such items as an antique heart-shaped diamond pendant-brooch, an Art Deco-era Cartier diamond brooch and a pair of modern emerald and diamond earclips.
But Leighton’s creativity extended well beyond jewelry, and his personal collection also features fine furniture and decorative arts spanning the 17th through 20th centuries and representing a number of genres: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Victorian and Asian.
Leighton sold his business interests in 2006. He died last July at the age of 85, with this sale representing the last curated collection from the jeweler to the stars.
Here are some of the sale’s highlights. For more information, visit Sothebys.com.
This wristwatch from Verger features carved amethysts, single-cut diamonds on the bezel and seed pearls. It has a pre-sale estimate of between $10,000 and $15,000.
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