Town & Country February 2025

1973 JOSEPH HIRSHHORN What’s the magic number to be considered a serious collector of something? How about 5,600? That was our low estimate of the treasure trove—which included at least 17 Rodins, 22 Giacomettis, and 21 Matisses, not to mention de Koonings, Pollocks, Wyeths, and Picassos—of Wall Street tycoon Joseph Hirshhorn when we featured him in a 1973 story on the labyrinthine ecosystem of the art world. “Hirshhorn buys so much art so fast that it is an almost impossible task to keep an up-to-date catalogue,” we wrote. “He buys almost every day. If he can’t decide which painting he likes, he buys them all.” Hirshhorn, who grew up in poverty, amassed all of this on his own. As a child he found joy in illustrated calendars; as his fortune…

What’s NEXT? Why, I wondered out loud in December while viewing the historic jewels of a living collector being sold at Christie’s, would someone sell this? “Because a collector never stops collecting,” said a knowledgeable source. “These pieces will move on, but they are already searching for the next.” The relentless pursuit of beauty was certainly the theme of that weekend at Rocke feller Center. Diana Vreeland’s Belperron cuff was in one gallery; Mica Ertegun’s Jansen palm trees and ruby JAR torsade were in another. By the next week they had found new homes, and if my source is right, at some point in the future they may find themselves back in these halls, as their current owners indulge in the constant cycle of the devoted collector. We delve into…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Skiing in the Alps may not be what it used to be—though try telling that to the elite racers who will be schussing down the pistes of Saalbach, Austria, in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (FEBRUARY 4–16, SAALBACH2025.COM), a biennial event second in importance only to the Olympics. Salzburg is nearby; stay at the new Rosewood Schloss Fuschl (ROSEWOODHOTELS.COM) to be spoiled like a Habsburg. WHAT ARE WE WEARING? Precision timekeeping has been in the Longines DNA since 1878, when the company introduced a chronograph so good it became indispensable for sporting events. In 1913 the brand put that mechanism in a wristwatch for the first time. That focus on accuracy extends to the entire Longines fleet, including the Conquest, a house classic since 1954.…

Classic pursuits are classic for a reason, and there’s no age limit. You can become a collector, creator, or macher. Whenever you are ready. Ready? If the case can be made that the greatest collector of modern times was not a collector at all but an art dealer—Sir Joseph Duveen, in later life Lord Duveen of Millbank, proprietor of the Duveen Brothers gallery and robber baron–whisperer of Frick, Mellon, Kress, Widener, Altman, Huntington, Hearst, and many others—the book to make it is Duveen’s eponymous 1952 biography by S.N. Behrman. With typically impeccable timing Duveen died in 1939, and what began as a series of articles in the New Yorker chronicling his avuncular-to-outrageous behavior remains an essential stop for anyone interested in the history of collecting. (Duveen was responsible for assembling…

“I that sent other jewelry collectors into a collect what I love,” says actress Jennifer Tilly. She references a recent auction frenzy. She resisted. “The pieces were historical but not to my taste.” Reviewing the pieces that have passed the Tilly test—the Paul Flato aquamarine and ruby buckle necklace (right), the Boivin starfish brooch—that taste becomes evident. “I like big, sculptural pieces,” she says. She also believes “jewelry has energy. Before you buy anything, try it on. You will feel it.” Which might explain the other theme that emerges from her jewelry collection. Tilly owns a charm bracelet that belonged to Joan Crawford, a brooch that Eddie Fisher gave Elizabeth Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor’s Cartier minaudière, and a piece from Norma Shearer’s personal collection. (“You know,” Tilly says, “all…

“I don’t know if it’s an inherited trait, but I come from a long line of collectors who were both inquisitive and acquisitive,” Beth Hutchens says. “Sometimes it can be a problem.” While family members have stockpiled carnival glassware, souvenir spoons, stamps, and arrowheads, Hutchens, whose primary trade is jewelry (she is behind cult label Foundrae), is a voracious collector of miniatures. She has hundreds of 1:12 scale gems in her inventory—an inch-tall bottle of wine filled with actual vino, a tiny tennis racket with nylon strings, hand-carved ivory binoculars the size of a thumbnail—with which she creates vignettes in various nooks (behind books, inside cabinets) around her homes and boutiques. “None of them are in dollhouses,” she says. “My whole point is that it’s a surprise. They’re in…