Going inside M.C. Ginsberg's drawers of jewels

June 30, 2008

M.C. Ginsberg, which specializes in antique, early 20th-century jewelry and fine timepieces, stores most of its jewelry in drawers to create a sense of mystery when the pieces are brought out.

By Joseph Dobrian

Iowa City, Iowa—Many jewelers and jewelry-makers wish that their customers would regard jewelry as fine art, not merely as personal adornment.

Some have encouraged that attitude by turning their shops into upscale havens that offer an experience more typical of an art gallery than a retail store. But few have been able to seamlessly blend jewelry with other types of art quite on the level of Mark Ginsberg, owner of M.C. Ginsberg: Objects Of Art, where jewelry is displayed alongside paintings and sculptures.

M.C. Ginsberg started out as a typical independent, Midwestern jewelry operation. Mark Ginsberg's great-grandfather sold pots and pans in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the early years of the 20th century, and by the 1920s, the business honed in on retail jewelry, with household goods and small loans a part of the mix.

"We moved into Iowa City in the 1960s, and into Des Moines in the 1970s; at one time, we had five stores," Ginsberg says. "Now, I have this store in Iowa City, about 1,000 square feet, and one in suburban Des Moines of about 600 square feet."

After his father died in 1984, Ginsberg headed back to Iowa City from Chicago and bought the family business.

"I decided it would be a natural to sell jewelry as art rather than as an institutional, utilitarian item," Ginsberg says. "I brought in artists whose work could be found at the Smithsonian or the Museum of Modern Art, and original works from various benchmen."

The Des Moines operation focuses more on watches than does the Iowa City store (between the two, Ginsberg carries Longines, Maurice Lacroix, Omega, Patek Philippe and TAG Heuer), while the Iowa City store is "more of a salon operation," offering fine art and vintage pieces, especially Etruscan and Egyptian revival work from the 1840s to the 1940s.

"Not many jewelers around here are expert in vintage and period work. Many of them, if you show them a cushion cut, will want to re-cut the stone," Ginsberg says. "But there's high demand for this sort of jewelry, and I have clients statewide, in connecting states and on both coasts."

M.C. Ginsberg, which specializes in antique, early 20th-century jewelry and fine timepieces, stores most of its jewelry in drawers to create a sense of mystery when the pieces are brought out.

Those visiting the store are treated to an air of mystery: Most of the jewelry designs are tucked into elegant rows of drawers, creating a sense of anticipation for customers.

M.C. Ginsberg is also a manufacturing jeweler, and customers are encouraged to create designs of their own. About 75 percent of the retailer's sales are of jewelry and watches; its fine art is mostly paintings and glasswork (with pieces by David Garcia Glass, Orrefors and Kosta Boda), plus ceramics and metalwork.

The store also works with various universities to show student work, not for sale, but to give customers an appreciation of the metalsmith's art and to get people away from relating jewelry value to metal weight and stone size, Ginsberg says.

"To some degree, we've succeeded, but to some degree, we'll always fail, as long as the rest of the industry takes the opposite approach," he says.

Pricing of the objets d'art is a hit-or-miss proposition, Ginsberg admits.

"I consider what the market will bear, the amount of time put into the piece and the rarity of it," he says. "If it's a very high-end piece, I'll sometimes work with a margin of 10 percent to 20 percent."

Ginsberg doesn't advertise markdowns, and pricing often depends on the individual.

"If you come in willing to play a bid-and-ask game, you'll get a better price, but if you come in expecting to beat me up, you won't be treated as well," he says.

TIPS for creating a gallery-like experience:

—Don't show price tags: Showing prices leads customers to resist trying on a piece they can't afford. But if they simply try on something because they like, it becomes easier to sell.
—Explain why art is art: "If you don't love the art, there's little difference between 'priceless' and 'worthless,'" says Mark Ginsberg, owner of M.C. Ginsberg: Objects Of Art.
—Add mystery: Eighty-five percent of M.C. Ginsberg's product is out of sight, creating anticipation. "If I can tap into that, I can capture the sense of theater that's missed in our industry today," Ginsberg says.

For more information about M.C. Ginsberg: Objects Of Art, visit its Web site, Mcginsberg.com.

e-mail: jdobrian@aol.com

Editor's note: This article first appeared in the May 16, 2008, print edition of National Jeweler.