American Gem Traders Association's "Spectrum Awards"

What a great weekend I had as a judge for the American Gem Trade Association’s “Spectrum Awards”! I was asked by Robert Bentley (www.robertbentelygemstones.com), Chairman of AGTA to be one of six judges for this prestigious juried competition. Once a year, the members of AGTA submit newly-designed jewelry and exceptional unset gemstones for blind judging in categories as varied as “Best Phenomenonal Stone” and “Best in Bridal”.

So, early last Saturday morning, my wife Hillary and I drove through the rain to a secret location in the West Village, passed through three security checks and were admitted to a light-filled apartment in the sky filled with glittering gemstones. Along with our fellow judges and AGTA grandees, nearly four hundred entries greeted us, and we got right to work.

Although I regularly reject the vast majority of the jewelry offered to Macklowe Gallery from our various sources, I was a bit timid at first, not wanting to offend or discount the efforts made by our countless anonymous applicants. Neither Hilary nor my fellow judges seemed to be having such misgivings. Mish Tworkowski, (www.mishnewyork.com) a fantastic jewelry maker known for his restrained and sophisticated designs, blew through his sections like a tornado, marking each entry with a “yes” or “no” as confidently as a veteran mathematics teacher grading a test.

I also got lapped by John Nels Hatleberg, who, as his website (www.johnhatleberg.com) succinctly describes it, is “a conceptual gem artist {and} the world authority on creating exact replicas of famous diamonds”. John was focused like a laser (no surprise given his profession) and worked through each first-round entry with methodical speed. Fortunately for me, nobody was in such a rush, so I got to appreciate, if not always like, every entry. Finally, AGTA Secretary and noted pearl expert Betty Sue King (www.pearlgoddess.com) kindly told me to move it or lose it, and I picked up speed.

Once our first-round judging was tabulated, we collected all the entries that made it to the second round and sat around the table together, judging each on its own merits as well as relative to the other entries. Here, the diversity of the judges was a true asset. Nicole Keating, fine jewelry assistant editor at W Magazine, brought a fresh perspective, showing us how each piece fit into the world of fashion and style. Marlene Richey (www.marlenerichey.com), who has been helping jewelers market themselves and their creations for nearly thirty years, kept us focused on whether the designs would sell or languish in a catalogue. Finally, Cecelia Bauer (www.ceceliabauer.com), master goldsmith and jewelry designer, with a specialty in the ancient technique of granulation, had a different perspective, understanding not only how each piece was made but also its place within the history of jewelry design.

And what designs they were! Go on the AGTA website (www.agta.org) and you can see what fresh and interesting designs we had to choose from. We had a great time debating that was facilitated by Hillary being the in-house model for each piece. Thank you Hillary! By the end of Saturday we had chosen winners in all the jewelry categories, and went out for a fantastic dinner at Braeburn Restaurant (www.braeburnresaurant.com) where the food, wine and conversation were equally satisfying. Thank you to Robert Bentley for choosing Braeburn and thank you to Robert Hucker, CEO of AGTA, and his crack staff of past president Barbara Lawrence, Kami Swinney and Adam Graham, for treating us to such a great evening.

By Sunday morning the sky had cleared and it was time to look at the stones! There were so many gemstones I simply never see in estate jewelry: color-change garnets, blood red spinel and paraiba tourmalines that looked like electrified Cool Mint Listerine! And fire opals from Mexico that ranged from the color of honey to a burgundy red! I truly felt like a kid in a candy shop that I had never known could exist before. It inspired me and Hillary to start designing jewelry, so stay tuned for that in the future. By the way, Cecelia runs her own school teaching the art of goldsmithing, which Hillary and I intend to attend; feel free to join us.

I cannot tell you enough what a great group we had. I feel like I have made friends for life. We were all on such a copasetic wavelength that when Hillary and I were driving downtown on Sunday morning we actually saw John Hatleberg leaving his apartment and ended up riding downtown together. Talk about synchronicity!

As he was our resident gemstone guru, John was very helpful for our task on Sunday of judging the best gemstones in each category. We judged for color, cut, rarity and even had a section for gemstone pairs and groups, which was a special treat. John helped us see how faceting can change the look of each stone, and it relative rarity as well.

One of the great lessons I’ve taken away from the Spectrum Awards judging is to dissolve any barriers between so-called “precious” and “semi-precious” gemstones. Those in the community understand that incredible color and fire are what draws humanity to gaze in wonder at gemstones, and that the name of the stone is not nearly as important as how it makes you feel to hold it in your hands, or wear it on your body. I invite everybody to experience that with me in the years to come.