Family Jewels

42

Stone sat in a comfortable chair in the office of Jamie Niven, the chairman of Sotheby’s. He took him through the history of the past few weeks, and showed him the photographs of the designs and the necklace.

“Where is the necklace now? Do you have access to it?” Niven asked.

Stone took the velvet bag from his pocket and shook out the choker into Niven’s hand.

“Good God,” Niven said, examining the piece carefully. “Excuse me for a moment.” He went to his desk, picked up a phone, and issued some orders, then hung up. “Come with me, Stone.” He walked next door to a conference room, where someone was setting up a microscope. He handed a woman the drawings and the necklace.

She looked at the designs with a magnifying glass. “These look good,” she said. “They are typical of Blume’s work at the turn of the last century. I’ve no reason to doubt their authenticity.”

“The originals are available in Paris,” Stone said, “if they need to be seen.”

“Let’s hear from Pierre,” Niven said, nodding toward the man at the microscope, who was inspecting the necklace under it, while consulting the photographs. “The stones are genuine — top quality in both the diamonds and the rubies. The piece is a perfect representation of the designs and photographs.”

“It’s not a copy?” Niven asked.

“In my opinion, it is undoubtedly the original.”

Stone took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Niven. “I found this in Carrie Fiske’s jewelry safe,” he said. “I believe the piece was stolen when the U.S. Army ransacked Hermann Goering’s alpine retreat in 1945, and the grandson of the soldier who stole it had that letter, ostensibly from Blume, forged when he gave the piece to Carrie Fiske as a wedding gift. The people who found the designs and photographs in the Paris archive also searched the years 1945, 1946, and 1947. They found no reference to Blume having copied the necklace.”

“Who searched the archive for you?” Niven asked.

“Paul Eckstein and Randol Cohn-Blume, the great-grandson of the designer François Blume.”

“Paul is a good man,” Niven said. “Does anybody have the slightest doubt that this piece is the original as depicted in the drawings and photographs?” His two colleagues shook their heads.

“Then that settles it for me. Stone, let’s go back to my office.”

When they were settled, Niven said, “How can we help?”

“I’d like you to auction the necklace, with the proceeds to go to the National Holocaust Museum, in Washington, D.C., and to waive your fees.”

“We have a fifteen percent buyer’s fee that we’d need to collect. Our expenses will be considerable.”

“That’s reasonable. I will be selecting items from the estate — American antique furniture, artwork, and jewelry for sale. By way of thanks, I’ll assign those to Sotheby’s at your usual rates.”

“Thank you, we accept. When would you like to sell the necklace?”

“As soon as planning and publicity will allow,” Stone said.

“I’d like you to leave the necklace with us,” Niven said, “for cleaning and any necessary repairs, which, I assure you, will be carried out with the greatest care.”

“Then I’ll need a receipt, of course, with a value of ten million.”

“Of course. Is the piece insured?”

“Yes, for that amount.”

“Good.” Niven took a sheet of stationery from his desk, handwrote a receipt, and handed it to Stone. “Good enough?”

“Good enough.”

“Did you have any security with you when you came here?”

“No.”

“It was just in your pocket?”

“Yes.”

“Stone, I am appalled. This necklace should never be alone with anyone again.”

“I’m glad it will be in your safe, not mine. One more thing, Jamie.”

“Yes?”

“I will be a bidder for the piece.”

“Personally, or for someone else?”

“Personally, and I would like my interest held in the strictest confidence.”

Niven turned to his computer, typed a few keystrokes, then printed out a sheet and handed it to Stone. “You now have a numbered buyer’s account with us,” he said. “When you speak to your bidder, or anyone else here, give your number, not your name, and your identity will be known only to me.”

The two men shook hands. “I’ll speak to my people, and we’ll come up with a sale date.”

Stone elected to walk home, feeling lighter than before, now that the necklace was in the safekeeping of someone else.