Word: bernet
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...already owns the 33-carat Krupp diamond, and assorted other baubles worth a fortune. Still, here was a rock to outshine them all: a flawless, pure white, 69-carat diamond, set in a ring that an anonymous owner had put up for bids at Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries. Elizabeth Taylor wanted the jewel so badly that the Burtons' agent was willing to pay $1,000,000. Alas, that was not enough. The stone, which is as large as a peach pit, went for $1,050,000, making it the world's costliest single piece of jewelry...
...similar to another crucifix and house altar made in Bavaria during the reien of its devout Albrecht V for his official Munich residence. On the other hand, an enchanting 17th century heart-shaped crystal pendant with the tiny figures of Eve and the serpent, is believed by Parke-Bernet's expert, John Hayward, to be either Italian or Spanish. One of the loveliest gems in the Gutman collection is a 17th century enameled gold votive crown by an anonymous Peruvian goldsmith. It was probably commissioned by a grateful grandee whose prayer to a saint or the Virgin had been...
...better than other Boston silversmiths of his day. A three-piece Revere tea set was sold for $70,000 last year, up from about the $30,000 it was traded for only five years earlier. Says Kevin Tierney, 26, the sharp-eyed Irish appraiser that Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries imported a year ago to smarten up its silver department: "You've no idea what that ride has done for Revere's trade...
...people in New York decide to bid against each other for something," he says in wonder, "they don't care what they pay. That doesn't happen in London. Competitive bidding only goes as far as each thinks the value to be." Under his knowledgeable supervision, Parke-Bernet's volume in silver sales has leap-frogged from $388,320 in 1967 to $1,197,785 last year...
Reasonable Penguins. Undoubtedly the happiest buyer at last week's Parke-Bernet sale was a Manhattan dealer named Eric Shrubsole, who started his bidding day by purchasing a silver Victorian penguin for $325 ("a nice stocking present"), a delectable little James II chocolate pot with a sinuous profile probably based on an Oriental vase ($7,500), a George II silver caster ($1,100) and a James II silver lighthouse caster...