Today’s featured jewelry collector is Tiffany of Auroro. She is based out of California and would visit Lang Antiques in San Francisco growing up with her mom – talk about ideal childhood! Her jewelry repertoire involves both vintage and antique, as well as lots of jaw-dropping bespoke pieces. She has created several pieces that have become staples to her brand, all which can be adapted with one-of-a-kind gemstones. I was excited to learn more about her personal collection and I hope you are too!
“My mom started collecting for me when I was a baby. Traditionally in the Chinese culture, babies are gifted gold when they’re born. Then a baby gets thrown a “Full Moon Party” three months after birth and they receive more gold! I have mini 24k baby signets, bracelets and charms.
Growing up, my mom would bring me to Lang’s Antiques in San Francisco (almost) every weekend. That’s where my love affair with jewelry started – at the display cases at Lang’s.
For birthdays and major life events, I was always gifted jewelry, so I was fortunate enough to start collecting early.”
“I think jewelry is a deeply personal thing. For me, it’s all about the emotions it stirs up. I’m a lifelong student of history so jewelry allows me to explore periods and eras of the past. What’s fascinating to me is the myriad ways that people, over the course of history, have reimagined difference pieces, rings in countless designs, brooches in innumerable motifs and shapes. And yet there are so many more designs to be dreamt up. I love what’s been done and the potential for what can be done.
I can’t pinpoint exactly what draws me to certain pieces of jewelry. For me, it’s pure emotion – I want to feel the drama.”
“I like to see things in person. Antique stores and malls are places I would frequent prior to Covid. I travel a lot and always hit up antique stores in the cities I visit and I’m always trying to find a piece that I can purchase that remember the city by.”
“Does anyone remember Mickey Cohen? Mickey was an American gangster based in LA with strong ties to the Italian American mafia from the 1930s – 1960s. He was born in Brooklyn but moved to LA as a young child.
Cohen worked with Bugsy Siegel and helped set up the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. In 1947, the murder of Bugsy was ordered due to his mismanagement of the Flamingo. In reaction to Bugsy’s murder, Mickey entered the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood and shot up the lobby, where he believed the murderers were staying.
In 1961, Mickey was convicted of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz. He was the only prisoner ever bailed out of Alcatraz; his bond was signed by US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. He ended up being sent back to federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia. Mickey died in 1976 of stomach cancer.
Sarah and I had the amazing opportunity to participate in an auction of Mickey’s jewelry and clothing; most of which was inherited by Mickey’s right hand man Jim Smith and then subsequently passed down to Smith’s son. We bid on and won an incredible 3.72ct Colombian emerald ring that Mickey wore on his pinky!”
