There Are Gifts for All Pocketbooks : Shopping: If Faberge eggs and Tiffany pearls are too pricey, the Avon lady may have just the thing.
In 1886, Czar Alexander III gave his wife, Czarina Maria Feodorovna, a gold jewel-encrusted egg. The egg was created by Peter Carl Faberge, jeweler and goldsmith to the Russian Imperial family. Today, early Faberge eggs fetch millions at auction.
Contemporary pieces for less are available at fine jewelers nationwide. They range from $14,000 for an egg to $500 for a pendant. Each is handmade in the Victor Mayer Workshop in Pforzheim, Germany. They are 18-karat gold and set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds. Many are “enameled” in a guilloche technique, with up to seven layers of powdered glass baked on a layer at a time to create a translucent, silklike finish.
If a Faberge egg is out of the question for your cherished one this holiday season, there are others for less, such as a cream-and-black duck egg decorated in gold tone and jet and crystal stones. It’s a music box, to boot, playing “Memories” from the Broadway musical “Cats.” By Eggs Fantasy, it’s $180 from the I. Magnin catalogue or at select I. Magnin stores.
Also at I. Magnin is enameled egg jewelry. A two-inch, egg-shaped pendant studded with Austrian crystals, on a 36-inch gold-tone chain, is $50.
Remember that priceless heart-shaped diamond Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor for her 40th birthday? The 25-carat stone was named for Shah Jehan, who built the Taj Mahal in the 17th Century in loving memory of his favorite bride.
Avon, as part of its Elizabeth Taylor Fashion Jewelry Collection, is offering a Shah Jehan pendant for $250 with chain. The pendant, overall about the size of a silver dollar, is a faceted crystal heart with faux rubies, a jade green inlay and 22-karat gold overlay. It’s available through Avon sales representatives or from a direct-mail catalogue.
Tiffany & Co. has pearls to die for. A four-strand cultured pearl choker of 18-karat gold and diamonds is $17,500.
Carolee’s pearls, hardly less glamorous, are quite a lot less expensive. Her Hollywood Glamour collection of fashion jewelry is inspired by the real stuff worn by Jean Harlow, Mae West, Greta Garbo and other legendary stars of Hollywood’s heyday. Carolee’s three-rope pearl choker with crystal and faux platinum clasp is $175. It’s available at department and specialty stores nationwide.
If only diamonds will do, Harry Winston jewelers has a selection of brooches set in platinum for a cool $23,000 to $93,000 per. If ice formed of faux stones is more in your price range, look to Swarovski’s holiday collection. It includes a menagerie of icy animal pins--a snow owl, polar bear and large and small penguin encrusted with Austrian crystals. Prices range from $75 to $175 at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue nationwide.
Hermes’ enamel bangle bracelets, hand-painted motifs on enamel and steel, come in two widths and a variety of designs, from seashells to perfume flacons . Prices range from $295 to $350 at Hermes’ boutiques.
Krika started making “Once Upon a Time” bangles for children but found women forcing the bracelets onto their own wrists. Thus, the Warren, R.I., company expanded the line of storybook motifs etched on sterling. The collection includes Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Wizard of Oz and Snow White. Adult bracelets are $65 apiece, children’s sizes $60, earrings $35. By mail or phone from Krika.
If a timepiece is of the essence, consider Henry Dunay’s 18-karat gold faceted bracelet watch with mother-of-pearl face and concealed crown, $15,000 at Neiman Marcus salons nationwide. Or there’s a certain whimsy to the bracelet watch from Timex’s Disney Cinema Classics. The one with Snow White on the face and a gold-tone heart-shaped link bracelet suggested for retail at $34.95 wherever Timex is sold.
For the man in your life, Cartier will engrave his signature in gold on a black, blue or burgundy lacquer Pasha pen. The pen, with gold-plated cap, cabochon tip and tricolor golden rings, is $1,500 at Cartier.
A ballpoint pen from Warner Bros. Studio Store with gold-plate trim is $12 through the company catalogue or retail store. Each pen has a gold-plated pocket clip depicting a cartoon character. In navy, it’s Sylvester; black, Bugs Bunny; green, Wile E. Coyote.
To keep him warm when you’re not there, consider a heather gray cashmere sweat shirt, $625, and sweat pants, $820, from Ballantyne. Or, from the Gap, a gray cotton fleece pullover and sweat pants at $24.50 each.
