JAR Ruby & Diamond Camellia Brooch

The jeweler with no shop window

Joel Arthur Rosenthal was born in the Bronx in 1943, the only son of a postman and a biology teacher. He studied at City College of New York, then transferred to Harvard, where he studied art history and philosophy and graduated in 1966. He moved to Paris and opened a needlepoint shop, where his unusual colors of yarn drew customers who designed for Hermès and Valentino. After a stint selling for Bulgari in New York, he returned to Paris in 1977.

With his partner, Pierre Jeannet, he founded the firm known by his initials, JAR. Sources differ on the year, giving 1977 or 1978. The salon at 7 Place Vendôme has no sign or window display beyond three discreet letters. Rosenthal is largely self-taught as a jeweler and is known for masterful pavé work, daring combinations of gemstones and patinated metals.

He makes very little. Sources put his output anywhere from a few dozen pieces a year to fewer than 100; a jewelry specialist who knew him said in 2006 that JAR produced only 60 or 70 pieces a year, kept short hours, closed the shop each summer and would not discount for a client who wanted to buy several pieces at once. In 2002 an exhibition of about 400 of his jewels, most lent by their owners, was shown in London at Somerset House, and in 2013 he became the first living jeweler given a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Lily Safra and her flowers

Lily Safra was born Lily Watkins in Canoas, Brazil, on December 30, 1934. She married four times; her fourth husband, the banker Edmond Safra, founder of Republic National Bank of New York, married her in 1976 and died in a fire in Monaco in December 1999. She was a philanthropist and art collector who owned the Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera.

The Safras began commissioning jewels from JAR in 1981. A specialist described how Rosenthal worked with clients he knew well: he would think of a flower, or something tied to a family's life, and work it into a piece in a way only the owner would recognize. Safra's JAR jewels lean toward flowers, among them a 1982 poppy brooch of diamonds and tourmalines, a 1994 diamond camellia bracelet and this 2003 ruby camellia.

A camellia made of rubies

The brooch is designed as a camellia flowerhead entirely pavé-set with rubies, about 173.09 carats in all, mounted in silver and gold. It measures 8.0 cm and came in a pink leather JAR case, with a French assay mark for gold. Despite the weight of stone, the blossom looks impossibly delicate, one later guide wrote. Another account describes rubies of several cuts and sizes used to copy the texture of the petals.

A Swiss laboratory report dated May 11, 2012, three days before the sale, found that the 20 larger rubies were from Burma (Myanmar) with no indications of heating. The sale catalog warned that, because of the Burmese rubies, a buyer might not be able to import the jewel into the United States, noting that items containing rubies or jadeite from Burma may not be imported into the U.S.

The catalog lists rubies as the only gems. Some press descriptions call it a ruby and diamond brooch; the sources consulted do not specify any diamonds in it.

Jewels for Hope

In 2012 Safra, then 77, consigned 70 jewels to a charity auction in Geneva, titled Jewels for Hope, with all proceeds pledged to 20 charitable institutions chosen by her foundation. The group included 18 jewels by JAR, one more than the 17 that the actress Ellen Barkin had sold in 2006, making it the largest single-owner group of JAR jewels ever offered. The collection was shown in London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong before viewings in Geneva began on May 11.

The sale took place on the evening of May 14, 2012, at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues. Every lot sold. The camellia brooch, lot 28, estimated at CHF 1.1 million to 1.4 million, sold for CHF 4,003,000. U.S. dollar figures in the press differ: two accounts give about $4.3 million, while a later account says just under $4.5 million. Descriptions of how far it exceeded the estimate also vary, from three times to nearly four times the low estimate. Reports at the time called it the highest price ever paid for a JAR jewel at auction.

The 18 JAR jewels together brought $11,473,920, the most valuable private collection of JAR ever sold at auction, and the whole sale brought $37,924,551, a world record for a jewelry charity auction. The top lot was a 32.08-carat Burmese ruby ring that set a world auction record for a ruby. Because the sale so far exceeded its estimate, Safra's foundation added 12 more organizations to the 20 charities that would share the proceeds. Safra walked into the saleroom at the end to a standing ovation.

The benchmark for JAR

Later JAR results reported in the sources consulted, through December 2025, sit well below it: the most expensive JAR jewel sold at one major house between 2023 and 2025 was an emerald ring at $1,608,000, and a JAR diamond "Apricot Blossom" bangle sold in Geneva in May 2025 for CHF 2,374,250.

Lily Safra died in Geneva on July 9, 2022, at 87. The current owner of the camellia brooch has not been made public in the sources consulted; one account says only that it went to a private client.

The numbers

Carat weight

Rubies of approximately 173.09 carats in total

Color and clarity

No color or clarity grade published; the 20 larger rubies show no indications of heating

Origin mine

Burma (Myanmar) for the 20 larger rubies; the specific mine is not stated in the sources consulted

Cutter

Not recorded; the jewel was designed and made by JAR (Joel Arthur Rosenthal), Paris

Setting

Pavé-set in silver and gold, 8.0 cm, 2003, in a pink leather JAR case

Timeline

1. Dec 30, 1934

   Lily Watkins, later Lily Safra, is born in Canoas, Brazil.

2. 1943

   Joel Arthur Rosenthal is born in the Bronx, New York.

3. 1966

   Rosenthal graduates from Harvard in art history and philosophy.

4. 1976

   Lily marries the banker Edmond Safra.

5. 1977

   Rosenthal returns to Paris and, with Pierre Jeannet, starts JAR (some sources give 1978).

6. 1981

   Lily and Edmond Safra begin commissioning JAR jewels.

7. Dec 3, 1999

   Edmond Safra dies in a fire in Monaco.

8. 2002

   About 400 JAR jewels are exhibited at Somerset House, London.

9. 2003

   JAR makes the ruby camellia brooch for Lily Safra.

10. 2006

    Ellen Barkin sells 17 JAR jewels at auction, then the largest single-owner group.

11. May 11, 2012

    A Swiss laboratory reports the 20 larger rubies as Burmese and unheated; public viewing begins in Geneva.

12. May 14, 2012

    The brooch sells at auction in Geneva for CHF 4,003,000, a record for JAR at auction; Safra's 70 jewels raise $37.9 million for charity.

13. 2013

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a retrospective of JAR's work, a first for a living jeweler.

14. Jul 9, 2022

    Lily Safra dies in Geneva at 87.

The world in 2003

• Feb 5, 2003

  U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presents the case for invading Iraq to the United Nations.

• Mar 20, 2003

  The Iraq War begins with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

• Apr 14, 2003

  The Human Genome Project is completed.

• Jul 5, 2003

  The World Health Organization declares the SARS outbreak contained.

• Aug 14, 2003

  The Northeast blackout leaves more than 50 million people in the United States and Canada without power.

• Oct 24, 2003

  Concorde makes its last commercial flight, ending the era of supersonic airline travel.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, JAR Ruby & Diamond Camellia Brooch is number 27 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (25 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• JAR's Paris salon at 7 Place Vendôme has no shop sign or window display, only three discreet letters.
• Before he made jewels, Rosenthal ran a needlepoint shop in Paris whose unusual yarn colors attracted designers for Hermès and Valentino.
• A specialist said in 2006 that JAR once refused to sell to a customer who asked, "How much for the lot?"
• To thank the clients who lent jewels to his 2002 London show, JAR sent each a pair of pansy earrings in colored aluminum.
• Safra's charity sale did so well that her foundation added 12 more organizations to its list of beneficiaries.
• The sale catalog warned that a buyer might not be able to bring the brooch into the United States because of its Burmese rubies.