Tri-State Area - Collectibles and Curiosities

Sean Scherer’s Kabinett & Kammer Creating Authentic Interiors By: Sean Scherer Photography by William Abranowicz Foreword by Anderson Cooper In this book...

Tuscan Countess The Life and Extraordinary Times of Matilda of Canossa By: Michèle K. Spike This is a fast-paced and colorful exploration of the life of Matilda of Canossa (c. 1046–1115), the woman who loved a pope and was loved by him, successfully defied the Holy Roman Emperor, and changed the map of Europe. A new kind of history, this biography also carries the flavor of present-day Italy. Matilda of Canossa, the “Great Countess,” was a remarkable woman. Her personal power was so extraordinary that even centuries after her death she became the first woman to be interred in St. Peter’s Basilica. She is best remembered for her role in the conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman emperor, the climax of which took place at her castle of Canossa. This unique biography is also a journal of the author’s travels through contemporary Tuscany as she explores the palaces where Matilda held court, the blood-stained plains on which her soldiers battled, the churches and cathedrals she endowed, and the fortified aeries where she sought refuge. Readers will be swept along on this engrossing journey retracing the steps of a courageous and brilliant woman. Michèle K. Spike is a lawyer and historian who has lived in Florence since 1989. She has collaborated with her husband, John Spike, on numerous books on...

Signed by Anne Walker Introduction by Peter Pennoyer Foreword by Mitchell Owens Photography by Eric Piasecki An art-filled, Cubism-inspired house ...

Country Life Homes of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley By: William Abranowicz and Zander Abranowicz A celebrated photographer focuses his lens on distinctive period and contemporary residences amid the natural beauty of New York’s Catskill Mountains and Hudson River Valley The majestic panoramas, lush vegetation, and bucolic vibe of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River Valley in upstate New York have long proved irresistible for city dwellers seeking respite from urban life and inveterate country lovers alike. Their homes, whether hundreds of years old or brand new, all resonate with their natural surroundings, as each of the 20 houses that photographer William Abranowicz captured for this volume attests. They range from the historic houses of Thomas...

Symphony of Jewels Annu Hu: Opus 1 By: Carol Woolton, David Warren, and Janet Zapata Photography by David Behl Inspired by Chinese art and lore, Western art and music, and the natural world, Anna Hu...

Peter Pennoyer Architects Apartments, Townhouses, Country Houses By: Anne Walker and Robert Stern Peter Pennoyer Architects practices a refined archite...

David Netto by David Netto Illustrations by Mita Bland 250 color, b+w illustrations ISBN: 978-0-86565-392-4 Hardcover with jacket The first monograph of...

Ornate baroque carved giltwood console with foliage and scroll ornaments raised on shaped out-stepped plinth, Italian, 18th century.

This pin is a simple yet abstract form with much visual appeal. The featured Druzy stone has a multi colored appearance providing much interest for the eye. Also included are tiny di...

A Rare Hungarian Tin Charity Container made in the late 19th Century. Charity box has a latched cover at the top and a plaque informing the people who donate to the box which organ...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials, including her signature black iron, to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Seamlessly mixing influences from around the world, Werner works with oft-overlooked materials--including her signature black iron--to create bold pieces of striking beauty. "I am am...

Audrey Werner has always been interested in the different ways people around the world, and throughout history, have adorned themselves. As a child, she would make jewelry from everything she could find-from beads to rocks, wire, and seeds. In 1992 she enrolled in classes at FIT with an eye toward expanding her knowledge of metal, and, from this point onward, was hooked. Later that same year, she landed an apprenticeship with the jeweler Gregg Wolf. Werner soon became his assistant, a position she would hold for the next two years while establishing her own practice. Another influence on Werner’s work came from a seemingly unexpected place. In 1996 she was sharing a studio with jeweler Philip Crangi...

Katie Ridder Rooms By: Heather Smith MacIsaac Principal Photography by Eric Piasecki Katie Ridder’s extraordinary palette, her playful mix of antiques an...

Torti Gallas + Partners Architects of Community By: John Francis Torti, Thomas M. Gallas, and Cheryl A. O’Neill Foreword by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andrés Duany Passionate about designing buildings and neighborhoods that quietly transform the urban environment, Torti Gallas is committed to improving the living conditions of distressed communities throughout the United States and around the world. Combining the disciplines of architecture, planning, and urban design into a single practice, they have leveraged lessons from their early history as a suburban-based housing firm to create a practice devoted to designing and creating the housing that brings catalytic change to urban neighborhoods. Their residential commissions are not the “one-offs” of elite houses, but the multiple housing forms—mixed-use apartment buildings, rowhouses, single-family homes—that comprise the fabric of a city. Torti Gallas is dedicated to raising the level of this architecture to a new high. This aspect of the built environment is largely neglected by the architectural profession today but hearkens back to a tradition that, before World War II, was not only a respectable segment of the profession but also created some of the country’s finest neighborhoods, including Forest Hill Gardens...

Mellerio Paris, A French Gold, Diamonds, Silver-Gilt, Rock-Crystal, Jade, Mother-Of-Pearl and Smoky Quartz, Carved Horse Sculpture, Jeweled Mounted Object. An extremely rare and unique, one of a kind French gold, diamonds, Silver-gilt, rock-crystal, jade, obsidian, mother-of-pearl, and smoky quartz carved jeweled sculpture "CHEVAUX DE LEGENDE", "A Legendary Horse" by Mellerio, Paris, circa 1991. Sitting on black obsidian base, the solid rock-crystal slab is finely applied with a carved smoky -quartz and jade horse with a harness mounted in 18k gold, brilliant -cut diamonds, rubies, turquoise, and amethyst chains and pendants. The top columns adorned with 18k gold and brilliant cut diamond pendants, the bottom with gold and mother of pearl plaques. The obsidian base with a plaque engraved: CHEVAUX DE LEGENDE" / N° 05 / MELLERIO DITS MELLER / PARIS / 5003 D The piece is in excellent condition and comes with a custom made wood case made for transport. It's very elegant and has French hallmarks throughout. A truly magnificent piece. Measures 10.5" high x 8.5" wide x 4" deep Founded in France in 1613 by the descendants of Italian immigrants from the Vigezzo Valley in the north of Italy, Mellerio is one of the oldest jewellery houses in Europe. The family business soon attracted the attention of the Royal Court and Marie Antoinette herself reportedly purchased a precious bracelet featuring 7 cameos surrounded by rubies in 1780. Later on, in the 19th century, Mellerio became the official supplier of the French Royal family and the Court of Netherland. Mellerio creates many jewellery items, all set with rare gems such as peridots, amethysts, aquamarines, citrines and topaz, applying for a patent, the flexible stem, a very supple and light jewellery mechanism. Mellerio remains also well known for their spectacular series of Art Nouveau jewels, created at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as for the creation of trophies rewarding some of the greatest footfall and tennis players of history. In 1993, the jewellery house launched their first watch collection. Today, Mellerio has stores in Paris, Japan and Hong Kong. July 14, 1789: this date is known throughout the world as the beginning of the French Revolution. According to a ledger belonging to House of Mellerio, this was also the day that the jeweler sold a golden key to the Comte de Coutance for 10 livres. This ledger, as well as inventories dating as far back as 1768, are the jeweler’s oldest archives. These archives have continued to grow over the years, as the House, established on rue de la Paix in Paris, still lives on today, still in the hands of the same family from Craveggia, in the North of Italy. The tumultuous history of the Mellerio family in France probably goes as far back as the Italian wars of the Renaissance, but the first official document proving their commercial activity in Paris dates back to 1613. This document is the famous royal warrant awarded by Marie de Medici to a number of Italian families established along the rue des Lombards, including the Mellerios, allowing them to sell “small jewelery items”, therefore granting them a small exception to the traditional monopoly enjoyed by Parisian jewelers. At that time, powerful corporations regulated the operations and customs of Parisian business, but thanks to this exceptional warrant, the Mellerios managed to escape the confines of this framework. Today, this wax-sealed document is kept at the city hall of Craveggia. From 1613 to the Revolution, the Mellerios lived between France and Italy. The corporations tried many times to put an end to their trade privileges, but all in vain, as a dynasty of sovereigns renewed the warrant. Always marrying and often retiring in Craveggia, the Mellerios continued to maintain their jewelry business in Paris. At first, they did this without a shop. Wearing backpacks (wooden boxes divided into small compartments where jewels were kept), they would tour town fairs around Paris and royal castles. This is how Jean-Baptiste Mellerio (1765-1850) is said to have sold a bracelet set with rubies and Antique cameos to Marie-Antoinette, which still exists today. Many elements seem to prove the veracity of this anecdote. The queen was particularly fond of cameos, which cover the entire background of her famous jewelry cabinet, and ruby was her favorite stone after diamond. The famous bracelet, reacquired a few years ago by the House of Mellerio, is indeed an 18th century jewel, set with antique cameos representing the profiles of Roman emperors. Two branches of the family were operating in Paris during this time, under the reign of Louis XVI: that of Jean-François (1746-1828), the paternal ancestor of the current Mellerios, and that of Jean-Baptiste (1765-1850). The French Revolution forced them to return to Italy. However, both Jean-Baptiste and François Mellerio (1772-1843), who was the son of Jean-François, were eventually able to return to Paris after the founding of the Consulate. Jean-Baptiste opened a shop at the Iron Crown of rue Vivienne, and François opened his at the Palais des Tuileries, rue du Coq Saint-Honoré. His well-organized order books give an idea of his high-ranking clientele during the “Old Regime”, among which were the Comte and Comtesse Octave de Segur, the Marquise (later Duchess) de Tourzel, former governess of the royal children, and her daughter, the Comtesse de Bearn, the Craufurds -who organized the flight to Varennes, the Duc and Duchess de Gramont, the Comtesse de Boigne, and Madame de Souza, Talleyrand’s mistress. We also see the names of the imperial family: Empress Josephine, the Queen of Holland, Princess Elisa, Caroline and Pauline. At that time, the House of Mellerio specialized, among other things, in the trade of antique cameos, a newly fashionable genre of jewel that captured the imagination of all the princesses and noble women of the time. The years of the Restauration and July Monarchy were among the most glorious. The Bourbons were back on the throne, and the clientele of the House of Mellerio had regained its former wealth. Mellerio supplied Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, as well as his mother, wife and sister, with sumptuous jewels, including a set of emeralds made piece by piece, while the Duke of Bourbon, last prince of the House of Condé, offered diamonds to his mistress, the scheming Baronne de Feucheres, and Monsieur de LaFayette also bought cameos for one of his granddaughters. For the first time, Mellerio ventured into the world of arts in 1815, when Carlotta Grisi, a famous dancer who created Giselle, as well as an actress named Rachel, bought jewels at the Mellerio store on rue de la Paix. 1848 marked a new turning point. France once again became a Republic. François Mellerio handed the company over to his son, Jean, and the latter decided to travel to Spain to build a new clientele. He later became one of the jewelers of the royal family, and met Eugénie de Montijo, who remained a faithful client when she became empress of the French people. The Imperial years were lavish. During the Second Empire, Paris was a pageant of crinoline dresses designed by Worth, while jewels by Mellerio, Worth’s neighbour on the rue de la Paix, adorned the noble women of the Tuileries court. The Empress bought pearls. Mathilde Bonaparte...

Signed: Jaimal Odedra Each piece is modeled and cast by hand using a traditional Moroccan sand casting method.

Signed: Jaimal Odedra Each piece is modeled and cast by hand using a traditional Moroccan sand casting method.

Signed: Jaimal Odedra Each piece is modeled and cast by hand using a traditional Moroccan sand casting method.

A rare enamel, gold and rock crystal figure of Emperor Maximilian I by Reinhold Vasters, Aachen, In the Renaissance style, circa 1870. The g...