Dan's Papers - April 25, 2008 - Bring On The Bling

OK, that might sound like a cliché but it really is. This May 2, 3 and 4 they will be exhibiting at the Hamptons Home and Garden Show. "We can't wait to come up. It's going to be exciting," said Michael.

The business of the Burns clan, Benchmark of Palm Beach, is to buy and sell antique jewelry, that's from the Georgian period on up the 60s and 70s with the majority of their inventory being Georgian, Edwardian, Victorian, and Art Deco. Their travels take them to New York, where they put things up for auction or attend a show of the major auction houses, as well as around the country looking for new and unusual items. Ken started his business 30 years ago and he and wife Sarah usually are the ones who make the trips to attend trade shows such as this one.

"It's a lot of fun," says Ken of the day-to-day. "There's always something new." Somebody has to mind the store, so Michael stays and tends to business back home.

The Home and Garden Show is one of two other Hamptons shows the family partakes in. HHG is divided into three separate components - the Building and Remodeling Expo, the Design and Décor Expo, and the GreenHamptons Pavillion, all under one roof. This year, they will be one of 330 booths and an estimated 5,000+ attendees. Held over three days, Show Director Rick Friedman has made it a destination for builders, decorators and homeowners for four years in a row now.

You might be thinking that a home and garden show might be an unlikely place for a jewelry company to display their wares, but Benchmark takes advantage of the related industries. After all, if you're sprucing up your home, why not spruce yourself up in the process? Other related companies, such as the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons and Gabrielsen Florist, are there. Everything that's in and around the home seems to be able to be a part.

Ken is a gemologist and has always been a lover of jewelry. He started early on working for other jewelry companies and at one point was the head of the estate department of one of the major jewelry stores before deciding to go into business for himself. Sarah has always assisted him and became a vital component of the company in the early 90s. Originally from Boca Raton, the Burns family all now make their home in Blueridge, a small town north of Atlanta, where they've lived for just under three years and where they maintain a retail store.

"I saw my father going out and dealing with beautiful rare objects," said Michael of his reasons to follow his father into the family business. "It has to be something you have a passion for." The allure of such beautiful objects won him over. None of them have one period they are fond of, or one look that dominates their process when choosing what to buy. "I guess we all kind of look to my father because he has the greatest accumulation of knowledge," confessed Michael, "but there is no one facet - no pun intended - that we gravitate toward. You have to be open-minded toward it all." Now he has people turning to him for his expertise and with items for sale, many commercially produced pieces but many dazzling ones as well. Customers can also turn to Benchmark if they are in need of repair or an appraisal.

It's the Art Deco pieces that make up some of the more special items in Benchmark's inventory. Michael favors the bracelets, particularly really over-the-top ones. "It was a time when people had money, and they were spending it. You see some with hand-carved colored stones called a fruit salad style, with leaf-like or fruit motif, or huge onyx stones laid into the bracelet." Admittedly, these pieces are one-of-a-kind and of their era. Those from the 20s and earlier were usually made by hand, so in a sense they are all unique. It wasn't until after World War II that the craftsmanship started to ebb away. Michael says that automation replaced it - for the most part. "Previous to that, a bench jeweler would sit down and work on a piece for months." It's a world he, and his family, can clearly appreciate and enjoy.