Hi Gaspare,
Thank you for posting the photos and info about this beautiful and unique jewelry. Rarely are G�ring's personal belongings exhibited in public, so I very much appreciate this occasion. It is unfortunate that all of the original gems had to be replaced, because one can only speculate what the quality of the gems were originally. If only some were missing then they could have been replaced with equal quality. Otherwise, this is still a special piece of jewelry, both artistically and historically.
In regards to the owner - at first I was disturbed by his professed intention to destroy this jewelry after he spent a "fortune" replacing the long-lost gems. Then I began to think that the owner might be playing a version of "hard to get" where the owner has one reason or another why he won't sell. So you are strung along for months, perhaps years, with the possibility that he might, in this case, sell the jewelry for $20,000, $40,000 ....
In either event, I wouldn't lose any sleep about its future.
Regards,
Dane
