Doyle & Doyle
NEW YORK, NY
In their own words
“I love the stories behind the pieces. We are known for vintage and antique jewelry. I love the way each of our pieces has a story based on when it was created, the stones that were used, the style of the design. Jewelry has a lot of sentimental symbolism in it. You can learn more about the whole world through a piece of jewelry.”
-Elizabeth
Jason’s interview with Elizabeth
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Jason: Today, we’re interviewing Elizabeth Doyle from Doyle & Doyle. Elizabeth, what do you love about jewelry?
Elizabeth: I love the stories behind the pieces. We are known for vintage and antique jewelry. I love the way each of our pieces has a story based on when it was created, the stones that were used, the style of the design. Jewelry has a lot of sentimental symbolism in it. You can learn more about the whole world through a piece of jewelry.
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Jason: Talking about history, is there a time period of jewelry that really stands out for you?
Elizabeth: I love the Victorian era because it was so long and encompassed so much jewelry that was so rich in symbolism. We can still get pretty affordable Victorian jewelry that's beautiful and fine. But then there were these really elaborate pieces, super luxe and extravagant. I love Art Deco, too. The design is so streamlined and can be very sleek and simple.
Jason: How did you and your sister become vintage jewelry curators?
Elizabeth: I remember going to visit my grandmother—she immigrated from China. She couldn't bring very much over, but one thing she did bring was her jewelry. Getting to go through her jewelry box was such a treat. And she would tell me stories about each piece when she got it. She bought her jewelry via a traveling salesman. And she said he could only come every so often. So, it was so exciting when he would show up to their house and he would unroll his jewelry rolls and she would get to pick one piece that visit. Sometimes there was a piece that she would be searching for and waiting for years. She had one jade ring carved from a single piece of jade. They have to fit your finger perfectly. It was years that she waited for him to bring the perfect jade ring. She wore that jade ring every single day of her life. I grew up in New England and flea markets are a huge thing. My dad and I would get up really early in the morning on Sundays and hit the flea markets. I learned from a pretty young age how to identify hallmarks. I think that sort of created the love of the search, the treasure hunting that almost all vintage or estate jewelry dealers have. And then I made jewelry through high school just on my own. And then in college, I ended up studying geology. One of the neighboring colleges had a lapidary club. If you joined their club, they would teach you how to cut stones, just cabochons, but still, that was good enough for me. One summer, I worked for a jewelry company in Mystic, Connecticut. It was there that they had a gemologist who would come in once a week and do appraisals for them. And he said to me, “Well if you're serious about being a jeweler, you need to go to GIA and get your GG.” So, I was like, “OK.” I wanted to go to GIA, but I knew that my parents were not going to give me any money. They said I could go to graduate school and they would help me with that, but if it wasn't graduate school, I was on my own. So, if I wanted to go to GIA, I had to pay for it and I had to pay to live either in New York or California. So, I was looking for a job to help me pay for my GIA education. I saw a job at GIA to be a diamond grader. And I was like, “This is crazy.” It said no experience necessary, that they would train you. I ended up getting the job and I got my GG for free while I was working at GIA. I did all the advanced spectroscopy on the colored diamonds. I learned how to read the spectra and I even got to contribute to some research papers. While I was in that lab, we saw Jackie O's jewels came through the lab. I did the report on her fake pearls, which needed a report to say they were fake because they were a really famous pair that she wore a lot. There was a famous picture of John F. Kennedy Jr. biting the pearls. Those went for a fortune, even though they were fake pearls. Elton John had sunglasses made with sapphire lenses. They were synthetic, but he still wanted a report that said they were synthetic sapphire, as opposed to blue glass or something. After I left there, I worked for an antique and estate jewelry dealer and learned about that whole world. My sister ended up moving to New York. And we were like, “Let's start our own business.” For two years, we've built up our inventory just by buying and selling wholesale or privately. After two years, we opened the store.
Jason: Tell us about the experience in the store. What does it feel like when you come in?
Elizabeth: Well, right now, the store is not open. We're currently looking for a new location because of the pandemic and we plan to open our new space in September. But we always had our store set up like a museum, with cases inset into the walls. We do contemporary and our own designs as well. And we mix and match different time periods. We want people to come into the store and feel very comfortable. We tell them what the history is and the meaning behind the pieces.
Jason: How did you start doing that?
Elizabeth: We've done it since the beginning. It started because there were just certain voids in our collection that we could not fill. And people would come in and ask us for certain things.
Jason: What does your workspace look like today? I know you're going through a transition, but tell us about that.
Elizabeth: Right now, it's a real transition. I've been doing a lot of virtual appointments, but I've been doing limited private appointments. We always wanted a very open environment where people didn't feel intimidated to come in. A more homey environment, almost. I still want the cases on the wall like we've always had, where I can display the jewelry, but just a more homey environment.
Jason: Tell me what makes a piece of jewelry heirloom quality?
Elizabeth: I love jewelry that you can see the history from, generation to generation. And that can be any piece. But some of the most special pieces that I've seen come through the store are pieces where there are personal inscriptions, engraved generation after generation. So, you might see multiple dates that commemorate different occasions that the piece has been given for. We see that a lot on lockets. It's really any meaningful piece that somebody passes down.
Jason: Our industry is all about trust. What does trust mean to you?
Elizabeth: Trust means somebody who will always consider your best interests along with their own. Most people have to consider their own best interest. But the person who will also consider yours along with their own is somebody that you can trust. If I can be generous with my knowledge, generous with my time, it will help elevate the people I work with, and that's better for everyone.
Jason: Can you tell me a love story? We love hearing love stories from our jewelers.
Elizabeth: I don't know if I'm going to get all the details right, but it was during Hurricane Sandy. New York was shut down completely for at least a day, probably longer. We had a client who had been looking at a ring for a while and he was in D.C. and he said he was going to come to get the ring. We were like, “Well, how are we going to make it?” And he said, “I'm going to make it. No matter what. I'm going to make it. I need that ring.” And I said, “Ok, if you're going to come, I'll go in and I'll open the store.” Because nothing was open. So, I went into the store and he came, and he picked up the ring. And when he came in, the date engraved inside the ring was the same day—it had an old inscription—was the same date of that day. He had taken the bus through this crazy hurricane and then he proposed to her. The date was meaningful to them for some other reason, so that was really romantic.
Jason: If there is a celebrity, somebody that you can style with jewelry, who would it be?
Elizabeth: I have to say Michelle Obama because I was so obsessed with her look at the inauguration. I was like, she is an inspiration. And I joke with my kids all the time about how I'm so obsessed with her and that if I ever saw her, I would completely fangirl and embarrass myself.
Jason: Can you tell us about some of what Doyle and Doyle brings to the community?
Elizabeth: My absolute favorite thing that we have done is a program that's at the local public elementary school in our neighborhood. It's called Young Artists. And they invite parents in. Our children don't go to the school anymore, but they did. So, they invite parents in to teach an arts class. So, we taught a jewelry-making class. We would bring in different inspiration for them, pictures, objects, and then they would carve a number of waxes over eight weeks. And then at the end, they could pick one and we would cast it for them in bronze. This is a public school that's really amazing because it's a very diverse public school. And it was just really cool to see all these different kids come in and how some of them would really gravitate towards it and just love it. We also always hosted different educational series in the store that were free to the community. And we’d give little lectures and put together curated collections on a theme. Those are really fun as well. We always have some sort of a charity tie-in with certain products. And sometimes we change them up. Sometimes we, depending on—sometimes we let somebody pick one or it's in memory of somebody or something like that.
Jason: That's amazing.
Elizabeth: Thank you. This was so much fun talking. I love talking to other passionate jewelers.
Jason: Absolutely. Have a lovely day.
