By Ruth J. Katz

“Madison Avenue has become the thoroughfare for every national and international designer,” observes Faith Hope Consolo, the Chairman of the Retail Leasing and Sales Division of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and a titan in her field. “Purveyors of true luxe—any brand that wants to distinguish itself—gravitate to Madison Avenue. Tiffany and Harry Winston, mainstays of Fifth Avenue, are looking to ‘colonize’ on Madison Avenue, much as Bulgari already has.” And jeweler Judith Ripka has two shops on Madison.

Consolo notes that the most burnished of that golden stretch—now dubbed the “Jewel Coast”—is between 61st and 70th Streets, but any sharp-eyed shopper knows that between midtown in the 50s and the 86th Street transverse, or even 90th Street, there are well in excess of fifty jewelers, all worthy of not merely a look-see, but perhaps of your first-born. And within the past year, several big names—like Chopard, Graff, and Stephen Russell—have expanded to more commodious quarters and newto- Madison players, like Kentshire Galleries and real estate progeny and nascent jewelry designer Ivanka Trump have opened up shop there. Moreover, major international dazzle-makers, like fêted London jeweler David Morris, the illustrious French house of Mauboussin, and the world-renowned Kwiat, known for its diamonds—will be hanging shingles on Madison soon.

While rents are slightly lower on Madison than on Fifth, Consolo points out, the intimate, neighborhood feeling is precisely the jewel-box-like ambience this kind of retailer craves. Matthew Bauer, President of the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District concurs. “The physical scale of the street is conducive to the scale of jewelry, and ideal for such intimate purchases. It’s a neighborhood street, dotted with international, luxury brands that all want to be right near their core customers. The avenue is ideal for browsing and shopping.”

And that was a good enough reason for us to window shop…and fill our jewel case vicariously. Take a sneak peek at what this unique Avenue’s jewelers have to offer.