What kind of sorcery lands a vintage jewelry collection in the cases of nearly every influential fine jewelry store across the country (including those at iconic Bergdorf Goodman) mere months after its debut?
The kind that takes years of relationship-building, professionalism, and impeccable taste to conjure.
For Future Reference Vintage, a new collection of exquisite, unsigned fine jewelry pieces made primarily between the 1940s and 1980s, grew out of a years-long relationship between Randi Molofsky, founder of trend-setting jewelry showroom For Future Reference (which represents Harwell Godfrey, Retrouvai, and Lizzie Mandler, among others) and Excalibur, a father-daughter team that's been dealing in estate jewelry and watches since 1981.
Molofsky, who's helped build several jewelry brands from scratch, is nearly as well-known for her punchy personal style as she is for her business acumen. She's a bona fide vintage style influencer on Instagram, often captured in posts with her mini-me 8-year-old daughter, Goldie. And her personal collection of period jewelry and timepieces inspired the curation that's become For Future Reference Vintage.
The collection differs from other vintage jewelry caches in a clever way: all of its pieces are unsigned, meaning they don't bear the maker's mark of a famous jeweler such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co., or Bulgari.
Molofsky tells Gem + Jewel, "While I love an exceptional piece of estate jewelry from a big-name house as much as the next person, the reality is that the stones and the metals are the same no matter if the piece is signed or not. For someone like myself who loves a major statement jewel, it becomes outrageously expensive when attributed to a brand. But unsigned vintage is truly an incredible value for the simple reason that metal, stones and production costs are at all-time highs, and these pieces just can’t be made for the same prices today."
For Future Reference Vintage 1970s turquoise and diamond necklace in 18k white gold, price on request
For Future Reference Vintage Art Deco coral, onyx and diamond earrings in platinum and 18k yellow gold, price on request
She thinks the time is precisely right to introduce jewelry lovers to unsigned—but artistically and technically significant—fine jewels, explaining, "A luxury consumer really understands vintage so much better today than even 10 years ago. Thanks in part to sites like 1stDibs, there’s caché around collectibles in a way that’s universally chic and upscale—vintage is no longer described as 'old' or 'grandma.' These are still handmade jewels with heritage, whether they are labeled Cartier or not, and there’s something truly exciting about finding a one-off that no one else will have."
For Future Reference Vintage 1980s wedding bangles in 22k gold, price on request
For Future Reference Vintage is available at Just One Eye (Los Angeles), Twist (Portland and Seattle), Department Nashville and online via Stephanie Gottlieb, and is coming soon to Marissa Collections (Palm Beach and Naples), Metalmark (Denver, Carmel, IN and Phoenix), The Loupe (Minneapolis), Stanley Korshak (Dallas) and YlangYlang (St. Louis).
