A comprehensive list of incredible presents for your near and dear, the team at Robb Report have compiled a veritable smorgasbord of delectable delights. Happy Holidays everyone!
A Hennessey Convertible Hypercar
Texas-based tuner John Hennessey developed his Venom F5 hypercar from the ground up and began deliveries of it in 2021; one was part of an exclusive package in our gift guide last year. Hennessey and Robb Report now return with the new Venom F5 Roadster. This unique offer includes one of only 30 examples of the 1,817 hp convertible to be produced—and the opportunity to put it through its paces (with instruction from a pro driver) at Circuit of the Americas, site of Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
Complementing the car is a matching limited-edition chronograph featuring a case formed from a single block of sapphire crystal and engraved with your roadster’s serial number. To present you with both, Hennessey Special Vehicles will fly you first-class round-trip and provide three nights at the Four Seasons Hotel Austin. And since the Venom F5 isn’t meant to be a daily driver, you will also be sent home with a truly Lone Star State–style grocery getter, the 558 hp Hennessey VelociRaptor 600 truck. The offer expires March 31. US$4.2 million
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Viju Mathew
A 100-Point Sonoma Wine Sojourn
Vérité, whose highly sought-after wines have received a total of 17 100-point scores, sits just outside the town of Healdsburg, Sonoma’s wine capital. Since its founding in 1998, the winery has combined French grape varieties and viniculture techniques with the area’s unique California terroir. In 2023, it will open an aboveground barrel room, called a chai (no, not like the tea), also designed to offer a luxurious and intimate tasting experience befitting the celebrated vintages.
This gift, just for Robb Report readers, will offer three couples the opportunity to tour the recently renovated Vérité Estate and experience a blending seminar and tasting with father-and-daughter winemaking team Pierre and Hélène Seillan. You will also enjoy a helicopter flight, allowing you to see the property and its environs from the skies, and a private dinner in the chai paired with Vérité wines. On departure, each couple will receive a complete set of all 17 of Vérité’s 100-point wines to add to their cellars. US$75,000.
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen
A Rolex Daytona Ref. 6239 With Nonluminous Dial and Hands
Eric Wind of Wind Vintage is known for securing hard-to-find and highly collectible watches. Now he’s opening his coveted vault to offer one Robb Report reader a possibly unique 37 mm steel Rolex Daytona Ref. 6239. The horological cognoscenti may recognize a potentially one-of-a-kind Daytona as essentially unheard of.
In all other vintage models, the hands and hour markers glow in the dark, but this piece, circa 1966, doesn’t have a space for the typical tritium lume in the hands that others have, and though the dial does have space next to its hour markers, it lacks the tritium plots. This kind of quirky, tiny detail can increase a watch’s value—and Wind doesn’t think this was a production error. “Rolex made a small number of nonluminous tool watches in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably the Milgauss, designed for scientists and doctors working in environments such as nuclear plants,” he says. Radiation-sensitive equipment, such as Geiger counters, could be activated by the luminous material, and while there’s no proof that Rolex created this Daytona for a scientific environment, it certainly makes for a great story.
Before Wind acquired it, the watch had a sole owner, who purchased it as a teenage department-store employee in Canada for just US$375, thanks to a staff discount.
The gift also includes a full-day one-on-one tutorial on vintage watches with Wind for you (or whomever you give it to) at a mutually agreed upon location and time. US$175,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Paige Reddinger
A Bespoke Michael Browne Haute Couture Wardrobe
Michael Browne is unlike any other tailor you may have met. At the forefront of independent haute couture for men, Browne has refined the bespoke process to such a level that he refers to himself as a couturier rather than a tailor, as he spends around 200 hours on each design (when Savile Row tailors typically expend 80 hours on theirs). His signature style is sleek and sexy, exquisitely and precisely cut close to the body and designed to make an impact. Despite, or often because of, its minimal color palette, it is clothing to be seen in.
Trained on the Row at Chittleborough & Morgan, Browne set up his own brand in 2017 in London. He is fastidious with fittings, cutting and sewing almost everything himself in what is, for him, a very personal process. The change in men’s dress codes over the past few years plays into his philosophy perfectly: He doesn’t design for men who think of suits as work clothes. Indeed, far from retreating from the two- or three-piece, Browne recently revealed a five-piece suit that includes a couture tailored jacket, waistcoat, two pairs of trousers (one high-waisted and pleated, the other flat-fronted and slim) and what he calls the Stealth overcoat, with a fitted silhouette, dramatic lines and strong shoulders.
For this gift, Browne has offered to create an entire wardrobe for one Robb Report reader over a three-year period. The process would involve considerable consultation, establishing the client’s most consistent body weight, discussing styles, design and cloth and, of course, multiple fittings in that time frame.
The wardrobe is likely to include the following items: five-piece suit; double-breasted suit; Arctic overcoat; bomber jacket; travel jacket and sports trousers; dinner suit; leather jacket; four casual shirts; four formal shirts; three knits; and two silk ties. From US$163,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Paul Croughton
A City and Country Getaway in Scotland
Think of it as a golf vacation fit for a queen—or a king. This six-night package, designed exclusively for Robb Report, begins with two nights in Edinburgh at the new Gleneagles Townhouse, where the royal connection with the Scottish capital is front and center. Take a private tour of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s former yacht, Britannia, followed by dinner onboard in her personal dining room and an after-hours tour of the crown jewels held at Edinburgh Castle.
Then hop in a chauffeur-driven transfer to Perthshire for four nights at the original Gleneagles resort’s 1,600-square-foot Royal Lochnagar suite. In between rounds of golf on the property’s three celebrated courses, enjoy a private whisky-blending class, a special dinner by chef Simon Attridge and, after getting kitted out in personalized Barbour jackets, a daylong adventure into the 850-acre estate capped off by a picnic in the wilderness. Then you’ll head home with your own bespoke whisky crafted by Glenturret to align precisely with your particular tastes after a cask-sampling expedition into its archives. US$59,570 for two people
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
A One-of-a-Kind Canoe
A canoe made from two of the world’s oldest workable woods—ancient kauri and ancient cypress, both carbon-dated to tens of thousands of years—sounds perfect for a museum piece. Although most clients do indeed use Wood Song Canoes as sculptures, Philip Greene designs and builds the bespoke vessels in his Round O, S.C., workshop to be as functional as any other flat-water canoe.
Greene, who has been crafting one-of-a-kind canoes out of rare woods since 1995, is reserving his next commission for a Robb Report reader. The vessels—which range in length from 10 feet to 17 feet, 9 inches—require 1,200 to 2,000 hours to complete, thanks in large part to the sculpted trim, as on the pictured Evensong. “There shouldn’t be one spot in the entire canoe that is flat,” he says. “I spent 100 hours on the front seat and another 75 on the back. It’s all about shaping, sanding and finessing. I want the curves but also a clear yacht-like finish.”
The Evensong’s cypress hull features a double pinstripe of the kauri, while the interior—deck, gunwales, seats, handles, yoke and foot-braces—are all gold-hued kauri (recently discovered preserved in New Zealand buried underground in open fields for thousands of years after the tree fell). Of course, since each canoe is a custom project, owners can opt for nearly any wood species, with a choice of grain and design. From US$178,500
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Michael Verdon
Special Access to Paris Fashion Week
Despite the world’s best fashion shows being both theatrical in nature and commercial in aim, you can’t actually buy tickets to see the runways of Dior, Chanel or that ilk firsthand. Unless you snag the gift Neiman Marcus is putting together for one Robb Report reader, that is.
The Dallas-based specialty store’s private-client team will serve as concierge to Paris Fashion Week for you—or the dedicated fashionista on your list—and a guest during the fall 2023 women’s shows, which take place from February 27 to March 7. Before the recipient departs, they’ll have a one-on-one appointment with a style adviser to decide what to pack (or purchase) for the trip. Then, after a business-class flight to the City of Light, both attendees will check into a five-star hotel—though they may not see very much of it during their time there. In addition to procuring coveted seats at fashion shows, the team will set up showroom appointments with a slate of designers, all curated with the traveler’s wardrobe needs and preferences in mind.
One other notable event: the return of the Neiman Marcus Awards—now called the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion—which were founded by Stanley Marcus in 1938 and last took place in 2016. The 2023 edition will recognize the industry’s most impactful names, in front of an audience full of them… including your recipient, of course. US$92,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Justin Fenner
A Bejewelled Rare Champagne Le Secret
The sparkle of Champagne is outshone only by that of diamonds. Now a Robb Report reader will have the opportunity to enjoy both in a collaboration between Rare Champagne and French heritage jeweler Mellerio, inspired by their mutual muse and client Marie Antoinette.
In 1997, the Champagne house’s famed cellar master Régis Camus blended a limited quantity of a special bubbly called Le Secret, which he bottled in 1,500 magnums and cellared. Realizing the extraordinary personality of the cuvée 20 years later, he invited Mellerio, founded in Paris in 1515, to design the exterior for 10 of the magnums, each with a sapphire, an emerald, a ruby or a diamond mounted at the center of a gold bow enhanced with 510 diamonds totaling four carats.
This experience begins with white-glove delivery of a sapphire-jeweled limited-edition Rare Champagne Le Secret High Jewelry Edition by Mellerio magnum to your home cellar. Next, you and a companion will fly on all-business-class boutique airline La Compagnie from New York to Paris, then be driven to Reims for a private vineyard tour and cellar visit. During the day, you’ll enjoy an exclusive tasting of library vintages, followed by dinner and a two-night stay at the historic private Résidence Eisenhower in Reims. Your voyage concludes with two nights at a five-star hotel in Paris and a visit to Mellerio with the option to transform the bow into a custom brooch, bracelet or pendant. US$175,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen
A Sculpture of Your Favorite Car
The automobile, with its sensual curves or angular lines, has been Michael Etrick’s lifelong muse. Now, the vehicle-design sculptor, who has clocked decades in the industry, will accept a commission to interpret one Robb Report reader’s prized collector car as a highly polished four-foot representation carved from billet-aluminum.
Etrick will have a preliminary consultation with you, visit the future display site and collaborate on the creative process. Upon completion, you and three guests will attend the reveal in Southern California as part of a four-day getaway that will include a private overnight cruise to Catalina Island aboard a fully staffed 85-foot yacht from the Find Group, track sessions at the Porsche Experience Center, premier hotel accommodations, dining and limousine transportation for the duration of the stay. Etrick will also craft a custom shipping container, a pedestal to match the space and a 12-inch desktop version of the work to complement the original. And while his most recent project, a personal homage to the 1936 Auto Union Type C Racer (pictured), took 12 years to complete, he plans to wrap this one up in six months. The offer expires February 14. US$299,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Viju Mathew
Get Behind the Wheel With Mercedes at the Mille Miglia
From 1927 through 1957, one race rivaled Le Mans in both prestige and peril: Italy’s famed Mille Miglia. As the name suggests, the endurance test covered close to 1,000 miles in a round-trip sprint between Brescia and Rome, one that racer Stirling Moss and his Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR completed with a record-setting average speed
of just under 100 mph in 1955. Mercedes-Benz now invites one Robb Report reader to drive in the 2023 Mille Miglia, resurrected as an exclusive rally on the same route and open only to car models previously entered in the bygone-era event. To meet that requirement, a 300 SL from that period will be provided by the Mercedes-Benz Heritage Collection, and a brand ambassador will be co-pilot during the five stages held June 13 to 17.
To avoid any automotive separation anxiety after the finish, a 1950s-era 300 SL “Gullwing” coupe will be delivered to you by the new Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Los Angeles, while a 2023 Mercedes-AMG SL 63 from a local dealer of your choice will provide a fitting bookend to the brand’s most storied model line. The offer expires March 15. US$2.7 million
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Viju Mathew
The Last Grand Cru of a Rare Cabernet
Two-decade-old Napa Valley winery Roy Estate is renowned for its rarely released La Rêveuse Cabernet Sauvignon. Roy’s winemaker, Philippe Melka, has achieved acclaim via his determined focus on terroir, using minimally interventionist techniques to coax the characteristics of the vineyard into every bottle.
The apex of Melka’s production is La Rêveuse, which he offers only in years when the harvest is exceptional. He never produces more than 50 cases in any given year. It’s the ultimate expression of his imagination and so is fittingly named “the dreamer.”
One such harvest was in 2015, when he took the best blocks among the vines and vinified, bottled and labeled the resulting juice by hand. For that year’s exuberant Le Rêveuse, Roy created just three hand-signed, hand-numbered six-liter bottles of its Grand Cru. Only one remains—and it’s available exclusively to a Robb Report reader as the ultimate library trophy. US$4,430
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
A Week on an Ibizan Private Island
A five-minute boat ride off the northeastern flank of Ibiza in the Mediterranean, the private island of Tagomago combines convenience and exclusivity in a 148-acre spit of land.
The sumptuous getaway is now offered for buyouts via Mandarin Oriental’s Exclusive Homes Collection, which imports the hotelier’s exceptional service to standout private properties around the world.
This lavish seven-night package for Robb Report readers includes a private-jet transfer between London and Ibiza for up to six people, as well as a three-night luxury-yacht charter with a Mandarin Oriental chef shipped in to helm the galley one evening. The island, where you’ll spend four nights, features two beaches, accessible by only Jet Ski or boat, plus a 55-foot-long saltwater pool and a jacuzzi in addition to a full array of watersports equipment. A private chef will be on hand for 50 hours of your weeklong trip. One evening will stand out above all: snacking on tapas at a table laid out in the caves that overlook Ibiza across the waves at sunset, followed by a guided stargazing session lying on the clifftops. From US$450,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
A Deep Dive Into Balsamic Vinegar
For a city with fewer than 185,000 people, Modena, Italy, produces a remarkable array of world-class products: Ferrari and Lamborghini sports cars, Ducati motorcycles, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. But perhaps the most beguiling and unexpected are its rich and complex balsamic vinegars, which for centuries have been barrel-aged in family attics, with the very best liquid often remaining within the region, consumed at local dinner tables or presented as gifts for special occasions.
Now the Giusti family, which has been producing balsamic vinegars in Modena for 17 generations, will reveal the fascinating processes and traditions behind its world-class aceto through the Private Reserve program, which allows customers to “adopt” a line of prized barrels—starting from 25 years old, with some dating as far back as a century—and receive a selection of those ultra-aged vinegars presented in elegant, hand-decorated glass ampoules within a handsome wood case.
In addition to the rare vinegars, Giusti is offering a Robb Report reader and their guest a unique Modenese aceto balsamico hospitality experience that includes two nights at the company’s Giusti Borgo cottages in the Emilian countryside, a private tasting at its acetaia and visit to the brand’s museum, plus an intimate four-course meal hosted by CEO and 17th-generation producer Stefani Giusti in the aging room, which includes barrels dating back to the 1800s. From US$6,500 for the travel experience and 25-year-old Private Reserve program; price upon request for packages that include older Private Reserve vintages.
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Josh Condon
A Buyout at an Italian Monastery Turned Hotel
Texan Bianca Sharma was on vacation with her sons on Italy’s Amalfi Coast when she spotted a former monastery and convent from the 17th century that lay abandoned. It took 10 years for that smitten entrepreneur to restore the site into an exceptional clifftop hotel and grounds, the aptly named Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa, where each of the 20 rooms and suites has a view of the sea.
Sharma is offering Robb Report readers an exclusive three-night buyout package, including all meals from her Michelin-star kitchen and full access to her 3,000-plus-bottle wine cellar, plus unlimited treatments in the spa, housed in the convent’s onetime vaults.
Chef Alfonso Crescenzo will host a private cooking class for those in residence, while another day will include a private tour of the ruins in Pompeii, where a Roman chariot and other newly discovered artifacts should astonish even seasoned visitors. Capping off the sightseeing trip: lunch at Bosco de’ Medici, the biodynamic winery that sits alongside the lost city on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. US$230,000 for up to 40 guests
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
Exclusive Access to Sailing’s Most Exciting Sport
This one-of-a-kind experience inside yacht racing’s fastest, adrenaline-surging technical sport is a three-day voyage into the sanctum sanctorum of the US SailGP team, offered exclusively to a Robb Report reader and guest. The package includes first-class air travel and four nights of five-star accommodations for the world finals in San Francisco, where you will enjoy privileged access during your stay. You’ll have a private meet-and-greet with the US team, led by two-time America’s Cup Champion Jimmy Spithill, as well as a walkaround and jump-aboard of the team’s carbon-fiber F50 race boat Eagle. You’ll also take a private tour of “pit row,” where all the SailGP teams and their race boats are based, and see the Oracle Cloud data center there in full operation, providing open-source information to all teams to ensure more competitive racing.
One of the trip’s highlights will be shadowing the team on training day, with access to meetings and debriefs, a perk that no outsider has ever had. You’ll be in the heat of the F50 battle on training day, riding in a private luxury speedboat, accompanied by a celebrity sailing commentator and feeling the noise, speed and crashing waves as the F50s streak around the course. On the two race days, you’ll be watching the matches from the ultra-exclusive Adrenaline Lounge, typically reserved for platinum sponsors and VVIP guests, with gourmet food, premium spirits and entertainment. The memories, of course, will last long beyond race week, thanks in part to SailGP clothing and other merchandise included in the package. Part of the fee will go to charities supporting ocean conservation and development programs that encourage diversity among up-and- coming sailors. US$575,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Michael Verdon
A Rare Visit to Hendrick’s Gin Palace
Tucked away on the coast of Ayrshire in Scotland is a palace that’s off-limits to the public (and to royalty, too): Hendrick’s Gin Palace, an invite-only destination where visitors can immerse themselves in the creation of the liquor, with access strictly contained to trade partners and a scant few industry VIPs. It’s a temple to the Rube Goldberg–like eccentricity that’s synonymous with Hendrick’s, festooned with taxidermy peacocks and a hothouse that grows Buddha’s hand and similarly freakish varieties of citrus.
Ordinary gin lovers have never been invited—until now. Hendrick’s will welcome a Robb Report reader and their guests, who’ll be squired round the site by the British brand’s own master distiller, and industry legend, Lesley Gracie. She’ll showcase her lab, where she devises the latest expressions of the gin, and give a sneak peek of whatever she’s mulling to add to the assortment soon.
The trip will also include a chance to overnight in a nearby Scottish castle, with afternoon tea and a dinner at the dining table inside the Gin Palace. Every attendee will also receive their own distillery- exclusive edition of Hendrick’s Gin to bring a little of its offbeat charm home with them. US$131,313.13 for a group of up to 12 people
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
Dinner by a Top Chef Champion
When Oprah Winfrey is getting ready to throw a dinner party for friends—such as bestie Gayle King’s birthday celebration—the mogul regularly gives acclaimed chef Mei Lin a call to cook a showstopping meal. Now it’s your chance to do the same. Lin will fly anywhere in the Lower 48 with her sous chef to prepare a family-style feast for eight.
From the comfort of your own home, you’ll see Lin show off her mastery across cuisines and techniques. The Top Chef champ, whose raved-about Los Angeles restaurant Nightshade was a victim of the pandemic, has that rare ability to make one of LA’s best fried-chicken sandwiches one day and execute high-level fine dining the next. Lin calls her style “Californian with Asian influences,” and the menu for the evening will include her shrimp toast with Cantonese curry, a whole grilled snapper and her salty-sweet char siu short rib. But that’s not all—expect some special treats along the way, such as chips and French onion dip made with premium Astrea caviar. It will be a meal that’s equal parts decadent and fun. US$40,000, cleanup not included
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Jeremy Repanich
Turn Your Jet Into an Artist’s Canvas
Graffiti artist Cyril Phan, known by the nom de plume Cyril Kongo, or just his street name, Kongo, has become an international star, famed for combining vivid colors, lettering and subjects ranging from fireworks to flowers in exuberant paintings and murals. The Toulouse, France, native started by tagging walls in Paris and made his mark on New York in the late ’80s, when he painted monumental murals, some measuring 50 feet by 150 feet, in the Bronx. In the past decade, he has been a frequent collaborator of luxury brands, creating a series of silk scarves for Hermès, a brightly hued tourbillon watch for Richard Mille and prints that the late Karl Lagerfeld turned into dresses for Chanel’s 2018 Metiers d’Art show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Now, one Robb Report reader has the opportunity to commission one of Kongo’s works as a livery for their private plane. The artist will work with you to create a scaled design, which you can take to an aircraft completions center afterward to have it realized. (It’s a familiar milieu for Kongo: In 2021, he designed the interior and exterior of the new Airbus ACJ TwoTwenty business jet.) What better way to appreciate contemporary art at 45,000 feet—and display it to the rest of the world on landing? From US$82,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Michael Verdon
A Special Getaway on Lake Como
Where better to spend three indulgent nights than in the largest suite on Lake Como: the 2,700-square-foot Bellini, inside the newly opened Passalacqua. The 18th-century mansion was reborn as a hotel earlier this year under the auspices of Grand Hotel Tremezzo CEO Valentina de Santis. When you do emerge from the suite, which is named after the composer who once played the piano here, this package (designed exclusively for Robb Report readers) includes private tours of both the nearby Villa del Balbianello, famed for its terraced gardens and spotlighted in Casino Royale, and the lake itself on Passalacqua’s own boat.
Then take a private consultation with Giuliva Heritage, the label founded by a local husband and wife that’s known for its extraordinary Neapolitan-style tailoring for both men and women. Also while you’re on the property, disappear into a series of tunnels to access the new spa via a secret staircase, where you can enjoy a treatment or two. Dinner one night will be a three-course meal alone on the hotel’s terrace, with wine pairings and live music—Bellini, of course. US$28,953 for two people; clothing from Giuliva Heritage not included.
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Mark Ellwood
A Custom Saint-Louis Crystal Chandelier—and a Trip to Paris
The French cristallerie Saint-Louis has made some of Europe’s most elegant drinking glasses since 1586, and royals from King Louis XV to the court of Nepal have commissioned its wares. But the company’s artisans also turn its fine crystal into lighting, with designs that run from baroque to avant-garde.
Saint-Louis will help a Robb Report reader design a custom chandelier during an exclusive three-day trip to France. You and a guest will fly business class round-trip to Paris, where you’ll visit the flagship showroom and enjoy a private tour of the legendary Comédie-Française theater, home to a 6,200-piece Saint-Louis fixture that illuminates the onetime dining room of Prince Napoléon Bonaparte. After a night at Le Bristol, you’ll travel to the company’s factory in Moselle for a consultation with the design team and a stay at the Saint-Louis Maison, the private guest house reserved for the brand’s collaborators, business partners and top clients. There, a private chef will prepare a dinner inspired by historical menus served to the French royal court. After you’ve approved your design, you’ll return home to await delivery of your fixture—the pièce de résistance of a memorable trip—which will take between six months and a full year to complete, depending on its size and complexity. From US$115,000
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Justin Fenner
A Bespoke Carving in Jadeite From Asprey London
Asprey London launched its latest collection of pieces made from Imperial jadeite in November. But Robb Report readers should relish the opportunity to commission a special carving, depicting a subject close to the recipient’s heart, from a unique block of what the Chinese call the Stone of Heaven.
Recently acquired by the Mayfair-based luxury house, this “rough” (common parlance in precious-stone circles) piece of jadeite features many of the hues with which this silicate mineral can be blessed—notably red and white, as well as the rich, translucent green with which jade is normally associated. That, though, is just one facet of its singularity. This particular block—30 cm in length, 15 cm in height, 10 cm wide and weighing 7.15 kg—is responsibly obtained: Asprey purchases only from private collectors whose raw materials fall firmly on the right side of the Myanmar Gemstone Law, passed in 2019 to ensure ethical sourcing.
This piece has also been certified by experts at Oxford University, who have used electron microscopes and X-rays to verify its integrity: crucial when it comes to the artisanal carving of a material whose grains overlap each other in a way which makes the stone, in molecular terms, strong but also vulnerable. Expert craftsmanship, handed down through generations, required—and guaranteed. £18 million
Enquire at RobbReportGifts@livunltd.com or +1 212-757-4300.
By Nick Scott
