May. 1940. Amsterdam. Three days after the Nazi invasion into the
Netherlands. X escapes the invasion and comes to the United States
via England. Quick parenthetical aside… I arrived in 1942…
shortly after the the invasion into Belgium which was simultaneous to
that of the Netherlands.
X founded a jewelry store on Fifth Avenue a few scant months after
arriving in New York. Alas… I was only four years old at the
time… and the best I could do was mine for diamonds in the wooded
dirt laden grounds of Forest Park. I never found nuthin’… except
for an occasional Immie… which I saved and used when playing
marbles… a game which I must admit I loved beyond all reason. When
it came to marbles… I was quite precocious at four… which is why
I still have all of mine.
I digress a tad to bring you the following bit of The
appreciation of coral to be used in a piece of jewelry presupposes a
certain level of intellectual refinement for it is well known
amongst those that know these things that savages much preferred the
glitter and glitz of glass. Civilized man had become quite advanced
and well knew the wisdom associated with traversing wild river waters
while wearing red or white coral with the intent of taming the savage
currents.
Which brings into play the association of coral to X. X’s father was
a famous antique dealer in Amsterdam. Originally X’s store sold china
and silver–no doubt born from knowledge gleaned from the father’s
experiences. However… the store subsequently evolved into the
retail store we know today and which grew to prominence over the
years.
Coral… for those who could use some sound and scientific medical
advice… was believed to staunch blood from a wound… cure
madness… and bestow wisdom upon the abysmally stupid. I have
heard–and I cannot vouch for its veracity–that within a short time
a law is going to be passed requiring all politicians to wear coral
lapel pins. I, for one, hope the law passes.
And so the question arises amongst those who have been wearing coral
and who suddenly find their synapses going into overdrive… how does
coral relate to X?
Well… as it happens… X’s firm once created a rather beautiful
Coral and Diamond Flower Brooch which I think should be seen. It
contains 9 oval shaped coral cabochons with the blossom and stem set
with 29 round diamonds which all together have a total weight of
about 5.00 carats. In 1995 it was valued at around $6000.
So… ya wanna see? Ya wanna tell me who you think X is? Even though
I will be on vacation… if any one of you right. The burden and
flip side of this is that I will also tell you if you’re wrong.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages a diamond and coral brooch created by X’s firm.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark