All the big dealers in the business showed up in the City of Sin for the annual Trade Show.
This year it moved uptown to Bally's which was conveniently located across The Strip from where our group was staying.
Basically, it was two huge rooms filled with more antique and estate jewelry than you ever thought that could exist in the world.
The dealers were a mix of usual 47th street gang with a sprinkling of dealers from Europe and provincials like our little group from Beverly Hills.
Basically, I spent my time checking out the individual booths to find inventory that looked interesting at the right price.
David Webb bold gold pieces were big this year band I liked this ring. 
It was impressive....but ridiculously too expensive...so not a buy for the Beladora David Webb jewelry collection.
Another item that I liked was this Cartier bangle bracelet by jewelry designer Dihn Van. Very cool...but again too pricey. I can't tell you how many dealers showed me jewelry that was priced much higher than what I sell the same pieces for on Beladora. One dealer actually told me that she pays top dollar to buy her inventory on the Upper East Side and I'm thinking to myself why would I want to buy anything from someone who brags about her high costs when my goal is to bring to my clients the best estate jewelry for the lowest prices.
I was happy to have my Beladora "Ambassador of Goodwill" and all around style arbiter with me, Miss de Ville, but she turned out to be not exactly helpful when she needed to spend her days lounging by the pool after too many nights out at the clubs until 4:00 am.
I was happy to have my Beladora "Ambassador of Goodwill" and all around style arbiter with me, Miss de Ville, but she turned out to be not exactly helpful when she needed to spend her days lounging by the pool after too many nights out at the clubs until 4:00 am.I, on the other hand, was up early every morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed, because I was happily ensconced in my bed with my book by 11:00 every night. And let's face it...if you want to jump into the fray with the 47th Street gang you have to be on your toes.
All in all it was a great show. I met some great people and bought some lovely things.
The only thing that would have made my trip better would have been if brilliant blogger and jewelry designer Wendy B had been in Vegas....
Posts
8 comments:
We would have had some fun! That's the one thing that's made me wish I had gone. I didn't want to spend the money on the whole shebang during this financially craptastic year, since I meet with everyone in New York anyway. But something to look forward to when things pick up!
Yeah, the show is costly and this year neither JCK nor the Couture show went well. It's a good thing that the Italian manufacturers had red wine in their section, because they weren't writing any orders.
Believe it or not, all of the action was at the Antique and Estate Jewelry show.
So...where did you eat?!
Man, take ME next time!!!! I love your cute daughter.
Jill, this year I didn't do the restaurant thing after last year's disappointing meal at Daniel Boulud at the Wynn.
Don't laugh but I ate at the cafe at the Paris Hotel because I wanted to sit outside on the terrace. The escargot were great, as was the cote du rhone, the steak frites was so so.
I also had dinner on the terrace (yes, I have a thing for dinning al fresco) at Todd English's Olives at the Bellagio. The food was quite good and if I had been more hungry I would have ordered the prix fixe menu for $50 which looked great.
This year, like every year in Vegas I ate at the bar at Sensi at the Bellagio. The asian fusion food is good but the wine is really expensive. Basically I eat there every year because I like to chat with John the Bartender.
Note: all the food in Las Vegas was over salted. Is the reason for the saltiness to get you to drink more?
And room service at the Bellagio was over priced and mediocre.
My friend Bobby used to work at Todd's restaurant in Tokyo. I think he worked at Olives in LV too, but chef's move around so much, it's hard to keep up. I love to eat outside as well. Unfortunately the patio's here tend to face parking lots! Nothing like fumes with your food. I'd never thought about the saltiness = more cocktails equation. It makes sense though. Have you ever eaten at Joel Robuchon's? It's my most favorite.
Jill, I haven't eaten at Joel Robuchon's in Las Vegas but...OK, I'm showing my age here...one of my two favorite meals ever was at Robuchon's restaurant Jamin in Paris another lifetime ago.
Well...Paris is better than Vegas any day!
Post a Comment