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www.thejewelrybook.com
A brooch circa 1929 with a 50-carat carved emerald not only caught
the eye of Yvonne Markowitz in 2007 at The European Fine Art Fair
(TEFAF) in Maastricht, Netherlands, but paved the way for overdue
accolades for its maker, Oscar Heyman.
Markowitz attended the show as the Rita J. and Susan B. Kaplan
curator of jewelry (now emerita) for the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston (MFA), and eventually persuaded her board of trustees to
acquire the American-made piece. She knew that onetime retailer
Marcus & Co. sold it to collector Marjorie Merriweather Post, but upon
closer inspection additional maker's marks were evident. With the help
of a colleague, the MFA determined Oscar Heyman had made the
brooch as a private label piece.
"Our marks specialist said, 'I didn't think that Marcus numbered
their pieces like this, so it could be made by Oscar Heyman for
Marcus,'" Markowitz recollects.
Once present-day partner Tom Heyman confi rmed the piece was
their handiwork, MFA donors and trustees Fred and Jean Sharf urged
the museum to ink a book on one of the trade's best-kept secrets.
The result is Oscar Heyman: The Jewelers' Jeweler, the fi rst illus-
trated history of 105-year-old Oscar Heyman & Brothers. Printed by
MFA Publications, the publishing arm of the museum, the brooch
Markowitz discovered at TEFAF is on the cover.
The Trade's Secret
Oscar Heyman is known as the 'jeweler's jeweler,' but is only
now stepping into a well-deserved spotlight thanks to a book
about its history and the provenance of some of its most
prestigious commissions.
By Jennifer Heebner
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