(MENLO PARK, Calif./NEW YORK) – Silicon Valley jeweler Stephen Silver and Napa Valley’s Gemstone Vineyard collaborated once again to co-design one of the world’s only ruby-encrusted Jeroboam wine bottles. The precious gem-set 3L bottle of Gemstone Ruby Barrel Selection Cabernet Sauvignon from premier winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown was part of a charity auction package for the 2022 V Foundation Wine Celebration, which took place in Napa Valley on Saturday, August 6, 2022. After the owner consumes the wine, the bottle may be returned to Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, and the hand-selected gems removed and reset into a custom jewelry piece. The experiential auction package, which also included an ultra-exclusive hosted VIP Hollywood experience to Beverly Hills, netted $110,000, contributing to a total of $6.5 million dollars raised for cancer research.
A Jewel of a Vintage in a Precious Ruby-Set Bottle
Fellow Wine Celebration Board members Jared Silver, President of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, and Amy Dornbusch, Proprietor of Gemstone Vineyard spearheaded the project. The fruit of their third consecutive charitable collaboration reunited the philanthropy-driven partners who also share a passion for producing rare treasures for clients of discerning taste.
Biljana Borovcanin, Connie Silver, Ana Martins, Jen Rade, Katja Damina, Stephen Silver, and Jared Silver at the 2022 V Foundation Wine Celebration in Napa Valley.Only five precious ruby-set bottles have been produced to date. The 2022 bottle auction price of $110,000 outstripped the original series of four bottles auctioned at the 2020 V Foundation Wine Celebration, which sold for $75,000 each.
Jared Silver, event sponsor stated: “The 2020 auction results certainly exceeded our expectations, and for 2022, we were proud to raise even more funds for the V Foundation and cancer research.”
V Foundation Wine Celebration Board Members Jared Silver, President of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, and Amy Marks Dornbusch, Gemstone Vineyard Proprietor in 2020.
The winning bidder received a rare 3L bottle of Gemstone Ruby Barrel Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, encrusted with rubies hand-selected by Jared Silver. After the wine is perfectly aged and artfully blended by award-winning vintner Thomas Rivers Brown, it will be poured into the 3L bottle, etched, waxed, and set with perfectly matched rubies. The bottle comes presented in a custom ‘jewelry’ style box. The vintage itself is a highly desirable gem, usually only available through Gemstone Vineyard by waitlist only.
The Hollywood Treatment
Above and beyond these exceptional treasures, the winning bidder will also enjoy the chance to be treated like Hollywood royalty, joining Jared Silver and Amy and Adam Dornbusch on the trip of a lifetime to Beverly Hills where they will enjoy a taste of the celebrity lifestyle with four-star plus accommodations in Los Angeles, dinner at a top restaurant, and a private Bentley and driver available for the duration of the stay, courtesy of Bentley Motors, Inc. The ruby-set 3L bottle of Gemstone Ruby Barrel Selection Cabernet Sauvignon will be presented to the winner during their hosted trip in February of 2023.
The Napa Valley to Hollywood theme continued ahead of the Saturday evening charity gala. As a treat for guests, Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry and Gemstone Vineyard partnered with celebrity stylist Jen Rade to host an on-site beauty bar, helping attendees select and borrow exquisite jewelry pieces from Stephen Silver for the evening.
Hollywood Stylist Jen Rade hosts Beauty Bar at V Foundation Wine Celebration with Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry.
Amy Dornbusch, Proprietor, Gemstone Vineyard, and Co-Chair, 2022 V Foundation Wine Celebration stated: “This is an incredibly special collaboration and a testament to our friendship and shared desire to find a cure for cancer.”
The 2022 V Foundation Wine Celebration live auction lot #4 included the following:
- 3L Gemstone Ruby Barrel Selection Cabernet Sauvignon Encrusted with Rubies
- Custom Jewelry Design with the Jeroboam Rubies by Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry
- 2 Exclusive Tickets to a top-tier Hollywood awards ceremony in Beverly Hills
- 1 Room for 2 Nights at a 4-Star Hotel in Los Angeles, CA
- A Private Bentley and Driver
- Dinner for two at a Top Restaurant
About Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry
Stephen Silver is a Silicon-Valley based gemologist, geologist, diamonteer, and philanthropist. Over the course of the last 40 years, Silver has established a reputation amongst his global network of jewelry industry contacts and elite gemstone collectors for his expertise in diamond and color gemstone cutting and jewelry design. Following his geology studies at San Diego State University and earning a Graduate Gemologist degree from GIA, Silver later returned to the San Francisco Bay Area to found an estate jewelry firm specializing in antiques and precious stones. There, he gained access to a number of history’s most important colored gems, including the famous Cullinan Blue Diamond necklace, a historic piece he went on to purchase and donate to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and later, the Pink Promise Diamond, which he recut and improved, resulting in a record price per carat at auction in 2017. Joined in recent years by son and Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry President Jared Silver, Stephen Silver expanded his business into a vertically integrated wholesale manufacture and retail operation of international reach with an office and retail boutique based in and around Menlo Park, California. For more information, visit shsilver.com.
