When Neil Lane was growing up in Marine Park, Brooklyn, the best game in town was scrapping for street castoffs: unwanted highboys, bric-a-brac, the occasional box of costume jewelry, some Libbey glass. Enterprising and loaded with dreams of becoming an artist, Lane began to sell his late-night loot to make money. And money, coupled with his innate moxie and charm, was Lane’s ticket to Somewhere Else.
Stops along his road to eventual fame in Hollywood (where he became a fixture as the “resident jeweler” on The Bachelor) included dealing at the popular outdoor flea market in New York and trips to Paris, a formative period during which he began buying bits of gold jewelry. Connections became important, but so was his 10x-power loupe, which he called his “Bible.” Loupe in hand, Lane began examining the minutiae of fine jewelry and developed an eye for quality and craftsmanship. A collector was born.
