Megan Cencula
While a Cartier Love bracelet is nice and a Pattek Phillipe watch even nicer, nothing rivals rare period jewelry from Van Cleef & Arpels, Asprey, Harry Winston, or René Boivin.
Those who collect such works belong to a rarefied circle that increases its sartorial plumage via jaunts to Paris, Geneva, and Monaco.In these international jewelry hubs these connoisseurs seek, like magpies, to feather their jewelry boxes with the utterly unique.
They search for jewelry found in tales of aristocrats who fled regime change with gemstones sewn into their clothing; or pieces that belonged to 20th-century heiresses, those ladies of refined manners who patronized jewelry ateliers (or “salons”) to amend their jewelry wardrobes; or baubles that belonged to stars of Old Hollywood, like the Trabert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin bracelet featuring a 127-carat emerald that once belonged to Marlene Dietrich.
In Nashville, they find all of that and more at Williams Galleries Fine Period Jewelry in Green Hills. There, the chatelaine of this salon, Randi Williams, gives guests a glimpse into the glamorous past through an array of jewelry that glistens like a living organism, its constellation of facets sparkling under the showroom lights.
“She’s a shoulder brooch,” Williams says as she lifts an 18-karat gold alligator from a case. Slathered in diamonds, it is a 1980s piece from the London jewelry house Asprey. “I named her Rocksy.”
Megan Cencula
Randi Williams
Another piece, from the 1930s, is an elaborate Art Deco bracelet encrusted in diamonds, along with emeralds that are perfectly matched in color.
“It would have taken a long time to assemble emeralds of that caliber that were so well matched,” Williams says. “That’s the sign of a very fine piece of jewelry.”
Williams speaks lovingly of each piece, delighting in their individual characteristics as though they were her children. Some, like the Art Deco emerald-and-diamond bracelet, are gem-driven, while others are driven by design, such as the Bulgari Serpenti, a bracelet-watch from the Italian fine jewelry house that has become iconic.
1 of 2
Megan Cencula
2 of 2
Megan Cencula
Williams lifts a Serpenti from her jewelry case. Designed to curl around the wearer’s wrist several times, its dainty head is topped by piercing emerald eyes and opens to reveal a watch dial. The Serpenti emerged in the 1940s, then increased in popularity when Elizabeth Taylor wore one on the set of her 1963 film Cleopatra.
Williams explains why the 1960s model at her boutique carries a six-figure price tag despite being made primarily of enameled gold.
“It’s Bulgari’s signature piece and it’s very collectible,” Williams says. “It’s very difficult to make, and it’s in extremely high demand. The value of the piece outstrips the intrinsic value of the materials.”
Such imaginative, meticulously crafted designs go so far beyond the ordinary that their presence in Green Hills begs the question: Who are these connoisseurs who collect such exquisite objects at Williams Galleries Fine Period Jewelry? Who would wear a diamond-encrusted alligator on her little black dress, or an 18-karat gold snake coiled around her wrist?
“They’re people who have faith in their own taste,” Williams says. “They're not wearing the uniform of their tribe. They are making their own.”
3796 Bedford Ave.,Ste 305, 615-297-2547; williamsgalleries.com