FACE TO FACE ... with antique jewellery expert Susan Rumfitt
SHE could be travelling to New York to buy a piece of retro jewellery for a collector or acting as a personal shopper helping clients choose a diamond engagement ring in Harrogate. She may be handling jewellery worth £10,000's or sourcing pieces worth a few hundred. Susan Rumfitt knows her stuff when it comes to antique jewellery but she is also a big advocate of fashion jewellery and her down to earth approach is breathing new life into the jewellery market.
Susan is passionate about jewellery and has built up her expertise with some of the UK’s top auction houses. She developed an interest in the history of art at school and discovered a passion for antiques when she came to Harrogate to study History of Art A’Level at Harrogate Tutorial College.
Her passion was fuelled by spells of work experience at the town’s Mercer Gallery and Sothebys and it was this that helped influenced her to pursue a career in the antiques trade.
“I’ve always loved the Renaissance period because that was when people started to understand how art, religious art, colours and portraiture reflected the world around them,” explains Susan.
Nobody who meets her in her Harrogate showroom or listens to one of her hugely popular lectures could doubt her enthusiasm for her subject but she also has a formidable amount of knowledge built up during her rapid rise through the ranks of the antique world.
After university Susan embarked on a traineeship in the silver department of Christie’s in Glasgow and the firm supported her through a post graduate degree in decorative arts.
The silverware and jewellery departments at Christie’s worked closely together and she soon found herself drawn towards the jewellery business.
“I could see the pieces as works of art and I enjoyed the fact that personal taste had such a big part to play.”
After running the silver and jewellery department at Phillips in Edinburgh for three years Susan moved to the firm’s prestigious Bond Street offices in London.
“I was travelling to Geneva and New York twice a year as an international jewellery specialist,” recalls Susan. “It sounds glamorous but it was hard work and involved hours of cataloguing and valuing.
“I would travel to France and Belgium to do valuations and came across some very unusual Austrian and Russian pieces during my visits to Europe. There were a lot of coloured diamonds that weren’t often seen in London at the time although that has changed since and London is now seen as a place for coloured diamonds.”
Susan’s introduction to the more affordable jewellery market came when she was asked to head up a groundbreaking new Phillips retail outlet in Bayswater specialising in affordable pieces and open seven days a week. Before long she had built up monthly sales of a quarter of a million.
Everything seemed to be going well but a slump in the antiques market and reorganisation within the business led to redundancy and Susan was forced to explore new possibilities. She decided to return to Yorkshire where she worked with Tennants as a jewellery consultant whilst developing her own private client and valuation business.
Since moving to her offices in Raglan Street 18 months ago Susan has expanded her business further and now enjoys a diverse and fascinating career. She gives regular lectures, runs courses and events introducing people to jewellery and offers valuations for insurance, probate and tax purposes for corporate and private clients. She hand picks jewellery on behalf of clients or to add to her retail collection. She handles contemporary, costume, Victorian, Edwardian, Retro and modern pieces.
“I’ve found that all aspects of the business work well together and help each other. It’s all about getting to know the client really well and finding out about their tastes and what suits them. I can go to auction for a client and use my experience to help them select items I know they’ll like. It’s very satisfying when I select maybe three pieces for them to choose from and they like them all so much they find it hard to decide between them.
“There’s no typical client, they can be young or old and with very different tastes, often buying a mix of contemporary and antique jewellery.
“I also love the lecturing and I like to get people to go to a lecture on a subject they’re not necessarily interested in so that they can be inspired in new areas. The aim is for people to enjoy themselves as well as to learn new things.”
One of the most exciting developments in Susan’s career recently has been her selection onto the Antiques Roadshow team.
“People will queue for three or four hours for a few minutes of your time at the roadshow events. Whatever the outcome of the valuation it’s important to make sure the person goes away with a smile.
“It’s a fantastic thing to be involved in and such an honour but I’ll be introduced very gradually onto the screen. When a programme has been running for as long as that any changes need to be made gradually and the programme makers need to make sure the viewers like me.”
It’s hard to see how they couldn’t.
l Forthcoming courses at Susan Rumfitt, Harrogate:
The Jewellers Art, Tuesday June 10 10.30am to 3pm;
Art Deco – The Last of the True Styles? Tuesday June 17 10.30am to 3pm;
Jewellery, Fashion and Movie Mistresses, Thursday July 24th 10.30am to 3pm;
For more information about the courses call 01423 705198 or visit www.susanrumfitt.com
Susan will also be at the Great Yorkshire Show on photographer Javan Liam’s stand and at Howden Show.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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