“Tony M” grew up in Paramus, N.J. He attended Southern Connecticut State University, and was the first member of the Marciano family to graduate from college.

Marciano’s first job in jewelry was at Michael Anthony Jewelers, a Mount Vernon, N.Y., store owned by his cousins. He started in product control, and eventually rose to senior vice president of sales.

In 1998, he purchased partial ownership of Metal Marketplace International in Philadelphia, and relocated his family to southern New Jersey. In July 2007, he joined CG Creations in Spring Valley, N.Y.

In April 2008, he took his final jewelry industry job, as senior vice president of sales at Quality Gold.

“Tony’s unique personality connected him with everyone fortunate to interact with him,” said a Quality Gold statement. “His bright smile and charm will be forever missed. His passion for the jewelry industry and his customers inspired his colleagues to strive to be their very best in both their professional and personal lives. It’s a testament to him that many on his sales team worked with him for 20-plus years over multiple companies.

“His legacy and unwavering spirit will be everlasting in the hearts and minds of those privileged to work with him.”

Marciano is survived by his wife of 38 years, AnnaMarie, as well as daughter Amber and her husband, Michael, and son Giovanni and his wife, Victoria. A grandchild is on the way.

To honor Tony M’s memory, his family asked “everyone to make a concentrated effort to spend time with their families, hug their loved ones close, eat well, exercise to maintain good health, and remember our friend and shining star for his boundless pursuit to make the world a brighter place.”

(Photo courtesy of Quality Gold)

The first clue that I was headed to one helluva shindig came last Tuesday, when my family returned from a weekend visit to Mexico City to find a delivery van parked in our driveway. The driver, who’d been told we’d be pulling in after midnight, was fast asleep in the front seat.

After I awakened him, he grabbed a bag in Tiffany’s unmistakable shade of robin’s-egg blue from the passenger seat. “You must be a very important person,” he said as he handed it to me.

Inside, a personalized invitation spelled out the details: Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, Tiffany’s parent company (and the richest man in the world, according to Forbes), was inviting me to celebrate the reopening of the Landmark, the jeweler’s New York City flagship, at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. The party was taking place on the eve of the store’s official reopening on Friday.

When I arrived at the Landmark, throngs of onlookers were pressed against the barricades across the street, quite likely squinting their eyes to see if I was a somebody.

I glided through the revolving doors beneath the Atlas statue clock right on the heels of Paloma Picasso, the immaculately coiffed Tiffany collaborator whose designs are featured in a dedicated display upstairs. She paused near the entrance long enough for me to admire her silk kimono printed with a Japanese-style tableau: birds alighting on branches of cherry blossoms. It was easy to imagine that even the daughter of the 20th century’s most lauded artist was stunned by the opulence of the ground floor, aka “The World of Tiffany.”

Nearly four years in the making, the store’s renovated interior—all 100,000-plus square feet of it—may well be the world’s most glamorous temple to jewelry. JCK news director Rob Bates did a fine job of summarizing the details that went into the brand’s first “holistic renovation” since 1940, including digitized immersive installations, 4,090 light fixtures, and 40 artworks by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, and Daniel Arsham.

I, on the other hand, am here to tell you about the scene.

And by scene, I don’t mean the 80-plus celebrities in attendance—though the famous-face spotting was, indeed, epic. Mayor Eric Adams was a guest, as were film director Baz Luhrmann, artist Jeff Koons, designer Marc Jacobs, Martha needs-no-introduction Stewart, and dozens of actors and musicians, including Gal Gadot, Hailey Bieber, Pharrell, Anya Taylor-Joy, Florence Pugh, Zoë Kravitz, Blake Lively, Mark Wahlberg, and Tiffany Haddish.

One of the first guests who caught my eye was a beautifully put-together Asian woman dressed entirely in white. Against the backdrop of her leather vest, crinoline skirt, and Dior handbag, it was impossible to ignore the Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus on her left wrist. (When it was introduced in December 2021, the limited-edition timepiece retailed for $52,635; the current secondary-market price hovers around $3 million.)

I turned to take in the lavishness of the room and spotted Michael J. Kowalski, Tiffany’s beloved former CEO, who served in the role from 1999 to 2015. As he posed for photos with the current CEO, Anthony Ledru, I couldn’t help but wonder what Kowalski made of the new (and improved?) Tiffany.

Last November, when I interviewed Ledru over a video call for a New York Times story about the growth of the branded jewelry sector, he was candid, gracious, and undeniably clear about the brand’s repositioning under LVMH, which acquired Tiffany in early 2021 for $16 billion.

“This year has been really focused on product elevation,” Ledru told me. “One reason we’ve been growing fast is we went quite big on high jewelry.”

“When we completed the acquisition, we never thought the high jewelry business at Tiffany in 2022 would be on par with our silver business,” Ledru said. “We multiplied by five the high jewelry activity since we took over. And the focus has been on Jean Schlumberger, the designer who joined Tiffany in the ’60s. He’s a bridge between old world and new world. It is the ultimate signifier of what Tiffany stands for. I believe it is our style.”

If the designer’s iconic Bird on a Rock brooch comes to mind, you’re spot-on. According to Ledru, the piece is at the heart of Tiffany’s high jewelry ambitions.

“It’s incredible the growth we enjoy,” he said, referring to sales of the brooch. “Bird on a Rock was only mounted on Tiffany legacy gemstones: tanzanite, tsavorite, morganite, and kunzite.

“Why would clients not want that on stones that were truly exceptional?” Ledru added. “We’ve done that for this year. We’ve had it on sapphires, on a very big morganite. This year we did it on white diamonds. Today we have close to six months of waiting time on that specific piece.”

As I wandered the floors of the reimagined Landmark, the focus on high-end clientele was palpable. Starting on the seventh floor—home to a Patek Philippe salon as well as a wide selection of Tiffany “Masterpieces,” including a $1.95 million Bird on a Rock brooch with a 7.91 ct. no-oil Colombian emerald and a $1.45 million diamond necklace centered on a 14.42 ct. oval Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil—I made my way down the sweeping curvilinear staircase to the themed floors beneath.

Lifestyle and home goods plus the Blue Box Café dominate floor 6. Here I spotted deluxe table tennis rackets, throw pillows, and plates, all decked out in Tiffany Blue. Throughout the room, re-creations of window displays designed by Gene Moore, Tiffany’s former artistic director, evoked the feeling of visiting a museum.

Silver designs occupy level 5, alongside a small but delightful “Audrey Experience,” featuring a replica of Audrey Hepburn’s black Givenchy dress from the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (Speaking of Givenchy, which LVMH acquired in 1988, the Tiffany salespeople are all outfitted, right down to their shiny black loafers, in custom black Givenchy clothing embroidered with a blue Tiffany logo.)

The silver offerings still open at a relatively affordable $250, for a Return to Tiffany bracelet, but when I spoke to Ledru last year, he made clear that the old Tiffany, with its wide selection of accessibly priced silver jewels, was a thing of the past.

“We’re not discarding silver, but we wanted to start with first things first, which was all about the brand elevation and having a very clear message for our clients,” he told me.

When I arrived on floor 4, dedicated to “Gold & Diamond Icons,” including works by Picasso, Schlumberger, and Elsa Peretti, I got a very clear vision of the kind of clients Ledru had in mind. At a showcase of watches created specifically for the Landmark, I came across a well-heeled couple who appeared to be in their 70s. The husband was trying on a square-faced Union Square timepiece, while his wife, who wore her silvery hair in a shoulder-length straight bob, admired the accompanying bangles.

“Do you need another watch?” she asked him.

Later on, at the party space next door (the former Niketown site that became Tiffany’s temporary home in 2019), I spotted the woman and approached her to say hello. “Where do you live?” I asked her, practically screaming so she could hear me above the crowd.

“Here in New York, but we have four other homes,” she said.

“Where are you from?” I persisted.

“I’m from Hamburg,” she replied. “Where are you from?”

When she learned I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, it was clear from her reaction that she knew the city of the White Nights. “We have been there five or six times,” she said. “With Gergiev.”

She meant Valery Gergiev, “Russia’s most powerful classical musician,” as The New Yorker once described him. He was the longtime artistic and general director of St. Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Theatre, and served as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic until his post was rescinded in 2022 when he refused to condemn the war against Ukraine.

Later, the Rockettes took the stage, followed in short order by Katy Perry, who delivered a spectacular performance that had the entire room singing along. And yet all I could think about was the privilege that surrounded me.

I glanced around, only to find a pretty blond woman in a short pink tweed dress standing to my right. On her left lapel, she wore a Bird on a Rock brooch, the bird perched on the biggest pink stone I had ever seen.

Top: A scene from Tiffany & Co.’s grand reopening party on April 27 taken at the entrance to the ground-floor “World of Tiffany” room (all photos courtesy of Tiffany & Co.)

The requests were made in response to an FTC call for input on its Green Guides, which cover environmental marketing claims and are being overhauled. The comments received by the FTC can be seen here.

The most in-depth submission came from the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, whose 21-page slate of recommendations was endorsed by the U.S. Jewelry Council (a consortium of industry groups), Ethical Metalsmiths, the Black in Jewelry Coalition, CIBJO, and 12 other groups. It can be seen here.

Among the groups’ recommendations:

– Ban the term sustainable.

“The words sustainable or the similar sustainability have been so used and misused they seem to have become meaningless to the consumer,” the JVC said. “Ironically, in some cases [they] have even evolved into red flags for problematic business behavior by savvy consumers, almost automatically evoking ‘greenwashing.’”

The organization asked the FTC to “strongly discourage” use of the word sustainable and “try and eliminate it from marketing.” It said responsible would be a better alternative—but asserted the term needed to have a “real definition.”

– Avoid recycled when it comes to precious metals and gems.

JVC argued that recycling shouldn’t apply in a jewelry context, since recycling has traditionally applied to items that would otherwise be thrown away, and jewelry materials are rarely discarded.

“Bench scraps are reused, melee diamonds are sent in for regrading, possible recutting, and resale, and even the carpets under jewelers’ benches catching metal scrap and dust are sent in for precious metal reclamation,” it said.

The FTC’s current definition of a recycled material would only qualify for gold found in “electronics waste,” JVC noted, and “this is a fraction of the material that is used in refining recycled precious metal.”

Recycled gold has been found to come from sketchy sources, it added.

“Ultimately, consumers want to make decisions about products that are the least harmful possible,” it concluded. “With the current recycled terminology, there is no legitimate way for them to make those choices in the jewelry industry.”

– Disallow claims that lab-grown diamonds are good for the environment.

Lab-grown “diamonds are being marketed as sustainable … and better for the environment. Neither claim has been proven to be true, and both are misleading to consumers,” according to the JVC document.

It said that some companies bill their lab-grown diamonds as mining-free “without acknowledging that the components and equipment necessary to produce their products often come from mined sources, and that the precious metal these products are set in is also mined.”

JVC also asked for “guidance on what mining specifically means to the environment and how to compliantly market products that are mined within the environmental space.”

– Require more information about carbon neutrality claims.

“Some carbon offsets may be totally worthless and, instead of addressing and reducing climate change, actively contribute to it,” said the JVC’s submission. “Carbon neutrality certifications based mostly on offsetting do not actively change what has already happened in a supply chain and do not certify whether a company is reducing its emissions.

“In addition, some carbon offset claims represent emissions reductions that will not occur for two years or longer. This is a claim that is too far removed from its action to be relevant to a consumer’s decision to make a purchase.”

JVC also called for greater enforcement of both the Green Guides and the FTC Jewelry Guides, noting the warning letters the FTC sent to eight jewelry companies in 2019 had an “immediate effect on the industry.”

Also submitting comments on the Green Guides to the FTC were the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), the Cultured Pearl Association of America (CPAA), the blogger Recycled Gold Paradox, and Wisconsin jeweler Hanna Cook-Wallace.

The AGTA submission also said that recycled should not apply to precious metals or gemstones, and took aim at terms like carbon-free, mining-free, never-mined, and locally sourced. It differed from the JVC’s submission in saying the FTC should adopt the definition of sustainability proffered by the United Nations’ Brundtland Commission: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

The Cultured Pearl Association asked for new guidance related to calling nonagricultural products organic, as in “organic gemstones.” It also called for a new definition of sustainability, asserting that pearls may be the “only inherently sustainable gem.”

“Recycled Gold Paradox” argued that the term recycled gold is “widely used to greenwash” and should only apply to gold recovered from electronics. Anything else, according to the submission, should be called reprocessed gold.

Cook-Wallace called for the continued use of the term organic gemstone to describe bone, horn, shell, coral, pearls of all types, and “any other substance used in jewelry that was produced by, or a part of, a recently living organism.” She said sustainable should not be used to described any jewelry product, but said recycled should be allowed to “describe the repurposing or restyling of used and inherited jewelry.”

(Photo courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission)

Even though the pinky ring’s history goes back to the 19th century, when Victorian dandies and unmarried women in England wore diminutive bands to denote their disinterest in marriage, the ring style developed a connection to organized crime over the course of the 20th century, perhaps a result of its symbolic ties to family and the notion of loyalty.

Lately, however, pinky rings have transcended those dubious associations to become one of the hottest jewelry trends. No longer reserved for men (or mafia bosses), the style appears in countless iterations, from diamond-set signets to eye-catching enamel and gemstone combos. Check out the 23 pieces featured here for a sampling of just how varied the category has become.

Top: Cobblestone small signet ring in 18k yellow gold with 0.35 ct. t.w. multishape diamonds, $2,550; Kwiat

As you think about how to merchandise your gold and silver showcases this fall, you may want to keep this in mind: The pandemic-era craze for layering smaller pendants, bracelets, and earrings into a maximalist whole is finally giving way to a look that favors singular statement styles—in particular, those in trending silver or two-tone executions.

This was a takeaway from our recent conversation with Kate Lagos, brand stylist at Lagos, the Philadelphia-based jewelry company founded by her father, Steven Lagos, in 1977.

“We’ve been pushing light and layerable because it’s been happening for so long, and we’ve explored that a lot, but it’s shifting back to bolder styles, such as big cuffs,” Kate tells JCK. “Also, it’s very interesting that silver is coming back. We’ve been working on our gold pieces for the last 10 years, but silver is our core.”

To hear Kate tell it, so is two-tone jewelry. “Steve was a pioneer when it came to two-tone,” she says. “When he started 45 years ago, people were wearing silver or they were wearing gold. He gave the wearer that confidence to feel as though they can mix and match what they already have and not feel like it’s clashing.”

The Lagos fall 2023 lineup incorporates these trends and more—just look to the brand’s bold new Embrace collection, which combines its classic X motif with diamond-circled O’s, and its iconic Caviar pieces bearing the brand’s signature beading, often dusted with diamonds.

“The fall focus is on the best of Lagos, on what makes us distinctive,” says Kate.

Top: Embrace Caviar bracelet in sterling silver with diamonds and 18k gold, $9,500 (available in August)

In his new role, Antonacci will oversee the sales and marketing departments of the Cranston, R.I.–based company.

“John has been a driving force behind our marketing efforts over the past three years,” said CEO Joe Peixoto in a statement, hailing Antonacci’s “leadership, strategic thinking, and 17 years of precious metals experience.”

George Lucas, who previously held the vice president position, left Gannon & Scott to become CEO at Accurate Converter, a leading buyer, processor, and refiner of catalytic converters.

Top: George Lucas (left) hands over the “keys” to John Antonacci. (Photo courtesy of Gannon & Scott)

Stocking up on all things new gives you a reason to invite your clients to the store, and gives your clients a reason to get excited. It encourages you to get up to speed on trends, and to retire pieces past their prime.

To whet your appetite, we’ve highlighted three designer jewelry brands that have all introduced new collections this season. Ready, set, stock!

Arizona and Crystalline by Jia Jia

In 2017, Jia-Jia Zhu, a former fashion buyer at Bergdorf Goodman, decamped to Bali to spend a year practicing yoga, meditating, and working with crystals.

“During one of my meditations, I unlocked my third eye and started seeing incredible colors and visions,” Zhu tells JCK. “I had this calling to go to Tucson to learn more about crystals.”

At the gem shows, she befriended a crystal seller who gifted her a tray of clear quartz crystals that formed the basis of her Jia Jia collection of 14k gold and crystal jewelry, introduced in 2020.

“Being a fashion jewelry buyer at Bergdorf, I never saw crystal jewelry that resonated with me,” says Zhu. “This was my opportunity to create something that felt good to me. What we do is all one of a kind. We don’t use glue or epoxy. They groove each crystal based on its shape and custom hand-set each piece with gold and diamonds.”

Handcrafted in New York City, the brand recently introduced new styles in its bestselling Arizona and Crystalline collections, including crystals featuring gem-set bars with colored stone accents.

Empreinte Animale by Lalique

For most jewelers, the name Lalique conjures the delicate, naturalistic creations of the Art Nouveau master René Lalique. This spring, the jewelry brand that carries his name is introducing a collection inspired by the creatures of the jungle, incorporating chain-link styles that feature feather, fur, and scale motifs for an intriguing hint of texture.

Diamond Dipped, Sable Doré, and Sable Noir High Deco by Tejen

Tejen recently updated its collection of bold, sculptural jewelry with a handful of new pieces featuring black pearls and opals and generous heaps of diamonds. The Diamond Dipped range, for example, pairs high-polish Fairmined gold with sizable white diamonds for a gleaming day-to-night look, while the newest pieces in the Sable collection highlight the perennially-in-style chicness of gemstone beads in unusual 18k gold settings (exhibit A: the tangled pair of High Deco opal drops below).

Top: Arizona Rainbow Sapphire Crystal Charm necklace in 14k gold, $1,400; Jia Jia

The three designers spotlighted below are a great place to begin.

Cece Jewellery

“I took a five-day ring-making course in Hatton Garden at a time in my life when I felt a little lost,” Cece Fein Hughes tells JCK. “I craved creating something with my hands and jewelry had always been a world that intrigued me. Little did I know this short course would lead me down a very different path than what I had imagined!”

That was 2019. Hughes, a former art historian based in London, has never looked back. Known for her miniature enamel paintings and star-set diamonds, the designer behind Cece Jewellery, which officially debuted in 2021, makes dreamy 18k gold rings, earrings, and pendants that retail from $2,300 to $3,500. Her American stockists include Twist, Goop, and Net-a-Porter.

“I like to imagine my rings and pendants are the world’s smallest canvases, and instead of paper, the material is 18 karat gold, and instead of paint, the medium is enamel,” Hughes says. “I never complete a miniature painting without a scattering of star-set diamonds. It adds to my romantic and whimsical vibe.”

Minka Jewels

Lucy Crowther was 22 years old when she fell in love with the art of jewelry-making while on a family holiday in Argentina. “There was a wonderful artisan jeweler in Buenos Aires whose work was really creative and I ended up moving there for six months to study Spanish and learn silversmithing from him,” the London-based designer tells JCK. “After that I moved to India and worked for a big jewelry company in Jaipur where I really got a taste for fine jewelry.”

That big jewelry company in Jaipur? None other than Gem Palace, the multigenerational jewelry firm famed for adorning maharajahs. Crowther learned the craft from its visionary designer, the late Munnu Kasliwal.

In 2016, she founded Minka Jewels after working for a stone trader in Hatton Garden. Crowther’s love of gems is evident in her bold, minimalist designs, which place vibrant colored stones front and center.

Her latest collection, New Berlin, a follow-up to her 2021 collection of Berlin rings, features “bold, structural gold designs featuring beautiful sapphires or tourmalines surrounded by diamonds to really make the stones pop,” she says.

Matturi Fine Jewellery

Growing up with a father who worked for De Beers, Satta Matturi was steeped in the world of diamonds from an early age. Before founding her eponymous brand, Matturi Fine Jewellery, in 2015, the designer, who was born in Sierra Leone and splits her time between London and Botswana, worked for De Beers herself, traveling between Europe, Southern Africa, and India.

This spring, Matturi’s designs—inspired by various elements of African culture and history, including masks, desert sands, and Meroë, an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile—are available on Moda Operandi, Saks.com, and in store at Saks in New York later this month.

“My designs do not follow the traditional norm,” Matturi told JCK’s Jewelry District podcast in 2020. “We strive to create a contemporary interpretation of a story with an African ethos.”

Top: Anchor Lucky Star ring in 18k yellow gold with blue sapphires, £3,795 ($4,659); Cece Jewellery

At press time, gold’s spot price was $1,994 an ounce.

Analyst predictions for gold now range from $2,200 to as high as $2,600 an ounce. Goldman Sachs has raised its 12-month gold price target to $2,050 an ounce from $1,950, according to Reuters.

“It’s very plausible that we see a strong performance in gold over the coming months,” Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at foreign exchange company Oanda, told CNBC. “The stars appear to be aligning for gold which could see it break new highs before long.”

Analysts said that the current gold rush is caused by investors being unsettled by the recent series of high-profile bank failures, and once again fleeing to the “safe haven” of gold.

“Concerns about systemic risks to bank deposits—whether warranted or not—may lead to investors moving some of their currency holdings into gold,” said John Reade, chief market strategist for the World Gold Council, on that group’s site.

In addition, analysts believe that the bank issues will likely make the Federal Reserve more “dovish” on interest rates. On March 22, chairman Jerome Powell said “we no longer state that ongoing rate increases will be needed to quell inflation.”

Added Reade: “A lower ceiling for interest rates is gold-friendly too, limiting the opportunity cost of holding gold.”

Gold hit its all-time high—$2,067 an ounce—in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo: Getty Images

For anyone seeking a reprieve from 24-7 watch news, Haute Jewels Geneva is back at the Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva with fine jewelry from some of Europe’s most illustrious brands.

Running from March 26 through April 2, the show returns to the Swiss city for its third edition. It debuted in 2019 with just four brands (Yoko London, Roberto Coin, Sutra, and Crivelli). Following a pandemic hiatus, the show opened in 2022 with 18 participating brands. And this year’s edition hosts 22 brands, including the four founding jewelers as well as leading names such as Marco Bicego, Stenzhorn, Palmiero, and Picchiotti.

“Last year’s Haute Jewels Geneva really marked a new beginning after the restrictions due to the pandemic,” Maria Carola Picchiotti, the Valenza, Italy–based brand’s marketing director, tells JCK. “People were happy to get together after a long time and business was thriving and exciting. There was a special energy permeating the show’s premises, as well as all over the town.

“This year we expect the same excitement, as Haute Jewels Geneva has really established itself as a leading jewelry event,” she adds. “This type of boutique show has the great advantage of delivering a sophisticated ambiance where vendors and buyers can conduct their business in a relaxed and friendly environment. Personally, at Picchiotti, we have so many exciting new designs and collections to show this year, we are eager for opening day!”

Picchiotti will present new styles from its Reversible Xpandable collection, including a slew of new bracelet options; new gem-set pieces from its Dots collection; and new Xpandable Bullet bracelets.

Meanwhile, the German jeweler Stenzhorn is showcasing a new diamond-centric collection inspired by Italy’s Amalfi coast. “We invite you to take a journey with us along the winding coastal roads of the Amalfi coast and discover the hidden azure bays and colorful villages,” Stenzhorn sales director Chris Stenzhorn said in a statement. “With Amalfi, customers can feel the beauty of nature, harmony, lightness, and inner peace that reflects this region.”

For Yoko London, Haute Jewels provides an opportunity to celebrate its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the brand is introducing new styles in its constellation-inspired Starlight collection, which pairs lustrous South Sea or akoya pearls with arrangements of small diamonds of various cuts.

Yoko is also debuting new pieces in its High Jewellery and Kaleidoscope collections.

Top:  Kaleidoscope earrings in 18k rose gold with freshwater pearls, 1.12 cts. t.w. diamonds, mother-of-pearl, amethyst, blue agate, and tsavorite, price on request; Yoko London