The auction-house staffer mentioned something to the auctioneer helper that I could not hear. Atop a stand on wheels, the auctioneer had just ended the sale of another item in his rapid-fire cadence, watched and waited.
“A piece of jewelry is missing from the middle table,” the helper (who is also an auctioneer) announced. “Please return it. It was done in front of the cameras.”
To make sure everyone knew he was serious, he added: “You’ll become a YouTube sensation.”
That last statement made me realize the ubiquity of YouTube, and how a mom-and-pop auction house could use it to its advantage. It’s a novel way to cut down on stealing, which happens often at auction houses with so many small items on the tables.
Auctioneers don’t often warn people about stealing from their tables, but they are forever urging buyers to keep an eye on their stuff. In fact, an auctioneer selling items under an outside pavilion earlier that morning had begun the sale by telling buyers to instantly take ownership of their items and advising dishonest people not to steal.
Inside, I looked around the room for surveillance cameras, even up into the ceiling and saw none. Maybe the mention of cameras was an attempt to scare the thief into returning the jewelry. But later, looking even closer at the ceiling, I saw them: four cameras attached to the same central element, aimed in four different directions. One, in fact, was focused directly on the tables with boxes of jewelry.
It didn’t make much sense for anyone to steal costume jewelry, since boxes of the stuff are very affordable at auction. Apparently someone had found a gem in the box and wanted it for free. He or she could have easily asked that it be sold separately. Most auction houses will allow items to be removed from a lot and sold. Sometimes, though, buyers are reluctant to do so because they’re afraid they’ll alert others to their gem, thereby pushing up the price.
I don’t often buy jewelry by the lot (I have bought some individual pieces), but my auction buddy Janet does, and says that sometimes the boxes contain pieces made and marked by named designers.
She has been schooled by an auction friend who buys nothing but costume jewelry about what to look for. A couple years ago, Janet bought some aurora borealis jewelry that sparkled like diamonds, but I had never seen or heard of such.
Costume jewelry is both popular and collectible. Its golden age appears to have spanned the 1920s to 1960s. Coco Chanel was among the first to use it to accentuate her clothing in the 1920s, and made it fashionable.
Among the noted designers were Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg and Sons, Ralph DeRosa, Adele Simpson, Albert Weiss, Marcel Boucher and Henry Bogoff. Among the brand names were Vendome and Coro, Garne, Hobe and Kramer, along with Monet, Avon, Trifari and Napier.
Many companies didn’t sign all of their jewelry, and others never did, so it can sometimes be difficult to determine the maker. The markings could be on the mount, the clasp or the clip.
At the auction, I wondered how the staffer had realized that the piece – whatever it was – was missing, since there was so much stuff in the boxes. It was actually a brooch, the staffer told me. She recalled it because another woman who worked at the auction house had seen it and was interested in bidding on it.
“Even if they put it in another box to hide it,” she said, “it’s gone.” Auction-goers sometimes move items from one box to another or hide it in other ways to keep it away from prying eyes.
The boxes of jewelry were sold one at a time for no more than $20 to $25 a box, a buyer asked that two hair combs be sold separately, and requests for bids on a box of bangles fell flat (until it was paired with another box of jewelry and other disparate items).
Later, I heard the staffer mention to the auctioneer that the brooch had been found. In another box, he asked. I didn’t hear her answer, but probably so. I guess the thief didn’t want to be seen on YouTube.
