RAPAPORT... For Edward Lewand, the decision was a simple one. In order to ensure the future of “The Annual Antique & Period Jewelry and Gemstone Conference,” aka “Jewelry Camp,” he bought it from the former owner.
“Last year it didn’t run,” Lewand explains, “because of the death of the former owner’s husband. I purchased it from her because I wanted to see it keep going. When you look at it, it’s really the only one of its kind.” His first step as the new owner was to move the camp back to the Hofstra University campus where it had been held in the past. The 2006 session had been moved to St. John’s University in Queens, but Lewand considers Hofstra much more convenient. He’s also changed the name to “The Antique Jewelry and Art Conference” a subtle difference that represents some big changes he has planned for the future of the gathering.
A FRESH FORMAT“My ambition,” says Lewand, “is to keep it growing and eventually make it an educational format that serves people better.” One of the first changes he’s made is in the timing, trading the mid-week format to a three-day schedule, which will run Friday through Sunday, July 11 through 13, 2008. The scheduled change was designed to make the conference more convenient for business people, who, he says, “don’t want to split a week. Psychologically, if you leave on Wednesday and come back on Tuesday, you’ve lost two weeks.” The mornings will be devoted to lectures, with hands-on sessions or seminars in the afternoon.
Along with the roster of distinguished returning speakers, who will speak on topics as diverse as changes in the marketplace, the allure of Raymond Yard jewelry and a twentieth-century retrospective, Lewand has added some new faces to the familiar scene, including a look at Harry Winston. Equally diverse, the seminars range from the nitty-gritty estate jewelry topics —“Practices on Pricing Estate Jewelry,” “Antique Diamonds from A to Z” and “Art Deco & Estate Jewelry Hands-On View of Buying & Pricing” — to the more erudite, “Silver Novelties in the Gilded Age,” “Limoges Enameling in Art
Jewelry from Conception to Completion” and “Tool Marks of the Masters.” Lewand has purposefully incorporated art and appraisal topics into this year’s mix, the latter no surprise since he is a professional appraiser who works for several leading galleries in New York.
One of the reasons he wanted to include more on appraisals, explains Lewand, is to offer “product information and more connoisseurship for the appraiser besides just theory and methodology. So this year, the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) is working with us a little bit.” Also on the agenda, he says, will be a “bit more of art. Not the Old Masters but art in terms of silver and art pertaining to small objects, the things that will come across for the jeweler and for people in everyday life.”
When asked whom he sees as the future participants of Jewelry Camp, Lewand states that he wants to bring in “different people” along with those who have attended the camp in the past.
“We’re also trying to broaden the topics by addressing the markets and things like that,” Lewand says.“We tried to streamline it a bit and make it a little more diverse, so people get information on different things besides just jewelry.” He is also, he says,“trying to make it a little bit more social and networking for the teachers.”
Along with adding a newsletter to Jewelry Camp’s website, jewelrycamp.org, Lewand plans to promote the speakers “a lot better. Right now, if you click on our website and you read about them, there are links to their websites, so it’s a networking tool. It’s a professional tool.”
Lewand’s admitted aim is to create an atmosphere where “people get together and actually communicate with each other and learn.” And, he says, “one of the key things that I’ve learned about learning, especially in the jewelry business, is the more you hear, the more product knowledge you have. We’re going to try to bring different people every year, while still keeping to some of the basics. I want people to have as much diversity as possible, hearing different opinions from different people on different subjects.”
The classes are geared for education for people in the trade, but Lewand says, “private individuals — lawyers, insurance people — can get some-thing out of it. They will get product knowledge and have a better idea of what they’re reading about and what they’re looking at. We’ll have people speaking about appraising from the appraiser’s viewpoint.”
Although he hadn’t worked out all the details at the time of this interview, Lewand is planning a roundtable discussion for Saturday night for the appraisers, with the goal of “making the profession a little bit better, a little bit more friendly toward itself,” he says. One confirmed attendee will be Mitchell M. Gans, Steven A. Horowitz Professor of Tax Law at Hofstra University Law School and adjunct professor of Law at New York University Law School. Gans is an Academic Fellow at the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and recently co-authored a book on the ethical responsibilities of tax practitioners and appraisers.
FUTURE SPEAKLewand’s plans for the future include convincing a show promoter to bring a large antiques fair to Hofstra University to run at the same time as Jewelry Camp in 2009.
“I’m also trying to plan a year or two in advance,” Lewand says, “inviting people and tentatively asking them to speak — I’m not looking for one particular group, I want it to be diversified. My vision is for it to be more of a meeting and networking place where people can drop their airs about 47th Street — along with the suspicions — and be friendly and warm toward each other and make friends and know that we’re all in the business together and that we should all learn as much as we possibly can about profit.”
This year’s Jewelry Camp is limited to a maximum of 175 people and seminars will be filled on a first-come basis. As long as there’s room, registration will continue. There are also one-day programs available. For more about the schedule and enrollment details, visit the website, jewelrycamp.org, or contact Edward Lewand at US +1 5164292622 Call .
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - June 2008. To subscribe click here.