Paul Flato was one of the biggest names in American jewelry in the mid-20^th century; yet, until fairly recently, appreciation for his work’s distinctive style and exuberance was maintained by a small circle of knowledgeable collectors.

Born and raised in southeast Texas to a prosperous family of German immigrants, Flato developed an interest in jewelry from a young age. Elizabeth Irvine Bray, whose 2010 book Paul Flato: Jeweler to the Stars has helped return his work to the spotlight, writes that “his earliest encounter with jewelry both terrified and thrilled him.” While hiking in some nearby woods, he and his friends came upon a Gypsy encampment. There, Flato watched with rapt attention as a man fashioned a necklace out of silver wire, an act of creation that was forever burned into his memory.

He moved to New York in 1920 to pursue a business degree at Columbia University but left early to apprentice with a Fifth Avenue jeweler. Soon he was selling his own jewelry, specializing in diamonds and natural pearls. His rise in reputation was nothing short of meteoric and he gained the respect of prominent players including Harry Winston, himself an up-and-coming jeweler, who later worked with Flato on a necklace for the legendary Jonker I diamond. (The Jonker VI is offered as lot 160 in this sale.)

A gregarious and charming young man with a great sense of humor, Flato was a natural salesman. He opened an elegant salon at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57^th Street, the location itself a sign of his growing success. He mixed amongst high society, hosting and attending events, collecting clients along the way. While much of his business was word-of-mouth, he provided jewels to Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, making his name synonymous with high glamour. He developed a fiercely loyal clientele which allowed his business to remain remarkably unaffected by the stock market crash of 1929. In fact, it was against the backdrop of the Great Depression that he created some of his most spectacular designs.

Flato’s dramatic designs found a particularly appreciative audience among the Who’s Who of Hollywood and, in 1938, he opened a salon on LA’s Sunset Boulevard. His timing was perfect. It was the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the studios expected their stars to radiate glamour both on-screen and off. Flato’s lavish statement jewels were easily picked up by the cameras, serving to enhance the escapist fantasies of moviegoers and readers of the Hollywood press. His contributions to the movie industry were so significant that he was credited for jewelry design in no less than six films including Holiday starring Katharine Hepburn, Blood and Sand with Rita Hayworth and Two-Faced Woman with Greta Garbo.

Unfortunately, this celebrity status came at a price. In 1941, his Sunset Boulevard store was robbed by four armed men who made off with nearly $50,000 in jewels. The financial toll would have been far worse had he not just lent his most valuable pieces to Columbia Studios for The Lady is Willing.  Flato did his best to put a light-hearted spin on the theft, commissioning a drawing of a gunman with the caption “Everybody Wants Jewels by Flato” for an ad in the Hollywood Reporter.

Though everyone did seem to be clamoring for jewels by Flato, he, like many jewelers and fashion designers today, received many requests to borrow—not buy—his jewels, and when his clients did make a purchase, they were often late to pay. He received a decisive blow, both personally and professionally, when a 17-carat emerald-cut diamond that had been entrusted to him by Fabrikant Jewelers vanished from his safe. Suspecting Flato may have played a part in its disappearance, other members of the trade asked for their jewels left on memo to be returned immediately. The race to reclaim these goods revealed that he had pawned many of the jewels to cover operating costs. He was arrested and charged with theft and was later forced to sell the company’s assets. The depth of his misfortune could have possibly been softened had he not been so generous in extending credit to his well-to-do clients: Nelson Rockefeller, Mrs. Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Frank Gould, Lady Isabel Guinness and Brenda Frazier all appeared with outstanding amounts in his ledgers.

To escape his legal woes, he went to Central America in 1952, but he was eventually found by authorities and sent to Mexico to await extradition to the United States. The process dragged on for five years and he eventually found himself in the “Black Palace of Lecumberri,” a prison in Mexico City. In 1961, he was finally extradited to the United States and served time at Sing Sing prison. Upon his release, he returned to Mexico, the country for which he had developed a good deal of affection and whose people he admired for their warmth and loyalty. Flato wrote in his memoir that “a loyal friend is more precious than any of my jewels.”

Flato possessed an optimism that persisted throughout the many peaks and valleys of his career, and in 1970 he opened a new salon in Mexico City’s fashionable Zona Rosa. Like his previous ateliers, the salon’s enticing window displays lured clients into a beautifully appointed, character-filled space. The jewels produced during this period were a significant departure from his high-glamour style of the 1930s and ‘40s, but his trademark eccentricity remained. He was a frequent visitor to the Anthropological Museum where he drew inspiration from Mayan and Aztec artifacts; he developed a pared-down, sometimes raw or “primitive” aesthetic. Some of the jewels continued his earlier exploration of surrealism, such as a necklace made of brass bells and a bracelet with longhorn bull terminals. Diamonds were used sparingly, and he played with different textures to emphasize the hand-wrought nature of his jewels, sometimes incorporating gemstones in their rough, unpolished form.

Flato maintained he wasn’t a draughtsman, but with no in-house designer in Mexico City, he was the one who created sketches for his clients’ consideration. One of the keys to Flato’s early success, however, was his ability to recognize talent, especially in those with fine pedigrees. He engaged a crop of highly imaginative designers that ensured his creations remained fresh, inventive and thoroughly enticing. His chief designer, Adolphe Klety, excelled at creating more formal, diamond-set jewels, such as his starburst earclips and entwined rose leaf bracelets (Iots 175 and 176). Fulco di Verdura who, after beginning his career with Coco Chanel, was introduced to Flato by Diana Vreeland. Verdura, like Flato, was embraced by New York society but held additional appeal as the 5^th Duke of Verdura. George Headley, who married into the Whitney-Vanderbilt family, was pivotal to Flato’s appeal with the Hollywood set. Serving as designer, muse and client, Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers conceived the “puffy hearts” that Flato fashioned into brooches and earclips. Similarly, Josephine Forrestal, wife of James V. Forrestal (Secretary of the Navy under FDR) and a former fashion editor at Vogue, was not a full-time designer but a contributor of ideas and designs. His eye for exceptional talent is further evidenced by his correspondence with Suzanne Belperron during WWII, entreating her to come to New York to lend her genius to his already inspired designs.

The jewels offered as lots 171-177 highlight Paul Flato’s independence from the European houses that so greatly influenced American design, particularly in the early to-mid 20^th century. The extraordinary range of his work—from the whimsical to the sensational—suggests that Flato’s desire to delight his audience may have outweighed any concern for financial stability. We are privileged to present one of the most significant groupings of Paul Flato jewels ever to appear at market and to herald his contributions to American jewelry design to the current generation of collectors.

In January 1934, on the alluvial deposits of the Elandsfontein Mine near Pretoria in South Africa, an employee of prospector Jacobus Jonker unearthed a remarkable rough gem weighing 726 carats—the fourth largest gem-quality diamond known at the time. The exceptional size and clarity of this stone quickly drew the attention of major players in the diamond industry. It was acquired by the Diamond Producers Association and later purchased in 1935 by legendary jeweler Harry Winston.

Before the rough was cleaved, Winston famously staged a publicity event that captured the world’s attention: the massive diamond was photographed in the hands of child star Shirley Temple. The image was widely circulated, cementing both Winston’s flair for spectacle and the Jonker’s status as a media sensation. The acquisition of the Jonker proved to be a turning point in Harry Winston’s career, firmly establishing his legacy as a legend in the diamond industry.

Soon after, Winston commissioned master cutter Lazare Kaplan to undertake the risky process of dividing the diamond—making it the first important diamond to be cut in the United States. After a year of meticulous study and planning, Kaplan successfully cleaved and cut the Jonker into 13 smaller stones.

The largest resulting stone, known as Jonker I, was initially cut to 142.90 carats then later recut to approximately 125.35 carats. Over the years, Jonker I passed through the hands of royalty and private collectors: it was sold to Egypt’s King Farouk in 1951 and later to Nepal’s Queen Ratna.

The history of the other 12 diamonds is not as well documented. Among them was Jonker VI, originally fashioned as a 24.91-carat emerald-cut, and offered here as lot 60. Though the diamond has been recut to 22.85 carats, the Gemological Institute of America was able to verify using spectroscopic methods that lot 60 was indeed cut from the same rough as Jonker I. Sotheby’s is pleased to reintroduce Jonker VI, set in a quintessential Harry Winston mounting, to the public.

The Ortiz-Patiño name looms large in the worlds of art and culture. At Sotheby’s, it holds particular resonance, especially for those who have made their careers here. Over the course of five decades, we have presented nearly twenty stand-alone sales from the Ortiz-Patiño family. The collection of Luz Mila Patiño, Countess de Boisrouvray, comprised an astonishing selection of impressive jewels—including a Kashmir sapphire necklace and a 32-carat Burmese ruby ring—that brought $31 million when offered in 1989. For comparison, the 1987 auction of the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels achieved $50 million, but across a far greater number of pieces.

The Patiño family fortune was built by Simón Patiño (1860-1947), the “Tin King” of Bolivia. During World War II he was one of the wealthiest men in the world, earning him the additional sobriquet of the “Andean Rockefeller.” As pater familias, Simón ensured that connoisseurship and an appreciation for quality and provenance became dynastic. These priorities extended to jewelry, and in the 1930s he acquired the “Andean Cross,” a jewel set with a 45-carat emerald carved from a single crystal that had passed through the collections of Queen Isabel II of Spain and Empress Eugenie of France.

Simón’s beautiful daughter, Graziella (1895-1980), married Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965), Bolivia’s post-war ambassador to France. Graziella formed an exquisite collection of 18th-century decorative art while Jorge collected rare books and manuscripts. They raised their two sons, George (1927-2013) and Jaime (1930-2013), in France and the brothers later built two of the greatest art collections of the 20th century. George developed a passion for antiquities and Jaime acquired Impressionist paintings, books and 18th-century French and English silver. Jaime was also an accomplished sportsman: he competed in the French and Italian Opens, was an avid golfer and became a World Bridge Federation World Life Master.

It was into this rarified world that Uta Krebber entered when she married Jaime Ortiz-Patiño in 1970. Born in Germany and educated in Switzerland, she enjoyed a career as a fashion model before meeting the high-energy scion of the Patiño family. True jetsetters, she and Jaime maintained residences in Geneva, Rio de Janeiro, Megève, Paris, Sotogrande and Palm Beach. Uta’s fluency in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, complemented by working knowledge of several other languages, allowed her to move with ease across cultures and social circles. She has always surrounded herself with beauty and her passion for art and interior design is immediately apparent when visiting her historic home in Palm Beach. The majority of her jewels were acquired from the 1960s to the ‘80s with Van Cleef & Arpels her house of choice. Uta’s life amongst the highest levels of society has provided many opportunities to wear and enjoy her jewels, including Palm Beach’s Red Cross Ball and a visit to Buckingham Palace as well as both intimate and formal events with luminaries such as King Carlos of Spain, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, President George H. W. Bush and Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, whom she counted as a close friend.

Sotheby’s will be honored to continue its tradition of offering works from the Ortiz-Patiño family when this spectacular collection is presented across our sales of High and Fine Jewelry at the Breuer building this December.

The New York High Jewelry sale includes several examples of Van Cleef & Arpel “Mystery-Set” jewels. These pieces incorporate delicate mosaics of colored gemstones that are held in place without visible metal claws or collets. The resulting effect is of a smooth unbroken expanse of vibrant, glistening color with a subtle linear grid pattern. The elegant simplicity of the designs is only made possible by a complex and difficult manufacturing process. Highly experienced jewelers known by their French colleagues as “grands mains” must carefully select stones for uniformity of color and individually cut them to fit the pattern, creating small grooves along the sides that allow them to be threaded onto a lattice of thin gold wires. The technique is usually applied to rubies and sapphires since the softness and internal characteristics of emeralds make them more prone to breaking.

Van Cleef & Arpels first introduced pieces incorporating the “serti mystérieux” in Paris 1933 and patented the technique in France and the United States, as well as in a number of other countries. Early examples of mystery-set jewels were either flat or slightly curved, but over time refinements to the technique allowed for the creation of complex undulating surfaces. The style was immediately popular and became iconic for the firm. The jewels were produced in both French and American workshops over many decades.

Geri Brawerman approached jewelry with the same quiet confidence and discernment that guided every aspect of her life. Her selections were about artistry, balance, and craftsmanship.

Within her jewelry collection, design and imagination converge with a sense of refinement, color and individuality. David Webb’s sculptural ‘Demon Mask’ necklace (lot 138) and dragon brooch grasping an emerald (lot 139) embody Webb’s spirited creativity, while Angela Cummings’ wide diamond and multicolored sapphire collar (lot 142) reveals Geri’s appreciation for color and texture. A Tallarico brooch centered by a remarkable pink spinel (lot 143) reflects her eye for gemstones of exceptional quality. Viewed as a whole, these jewels reflect a collector who recognized design as a conversation between maker and wearer, where imagination, material, and artistry converge.

Like her art collection, these jewels were expressions of curiosity and confidence, objects to be lived with and enjoyed. They mirror the qualities that defined her philanthropy: generosity, grace, and a deep belief in the power of creativity to enrich lives.

Mrs. Brawerman devoted herself to the same consideration and discernment in her philanthropy. She and her husband Richard supported education, healthcare, and the arts with deep generosity, fostering possibilities that transformed lives. Through the Brawerman Fellowship Program, she opened doors for students; at Cedars-Sinai, she helped nurses advance their training; and at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, she paved the way for educational initiatives that strengthened communities. Through her philanthropy, Mrs. Brawerman didn’t just support institutions, she touched lives, created opportunities and ensured that others could achieve what once felt impossible.

Please see lots 403-436 for the remainder of The Geri Brawerman Collection in Fine Jewelry, open for bidding from 26 November to 11 December.