Shlomo Moussaieff (businessman)

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Shlomo Moussaieff
Hebrew: שלמה מוסאיוף
Born1925
Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
DiedJuly 1, 2015 (aged 90)
Resting placeJerusalem, Israel
OccupationJewelry merchant
Years active1950s–2015
OrganizationMoussaieff Jewellery Ltd.
Known forDealer in exclusive diamonds and gemstones
Biblical antiquities collector
SpouseAlisa
ChildrenDorrit
Tamara
Sharon
ParentRehavia Moussaieff
RelativesShlomo Moussaieff, grandfather
Websitewww.moussaieff-jewellers.com

Shlomo Moussaieff (1925 – July 1, 2015) was an Israeli jeweler, of

Bukharan Jewish descent. He was the grandson of the gemstone trader Rabbi Moussaieff from Uzbekistan. Founder of Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd., he and his wife Alisa were ranked No. 315 on the Sunday Times Rich List 2011, with a fortune estimated at £220 million.[1] In addition, he was regarded as one of the world's top private collectors of antiquities associated with the Bible and ancient Near East,[2] with a collection of 60,000 artefacts.[3]

Biography

Shlomo Moussaieff was the second of 12 children of Rehavia Moussaieff, a

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson.[10] Their second daughter, Tamar, works in the business.[7] Their third daughter is Sharon.[8]

The Tombs of the Sanhedrin

His father, a strict disciplinarian,

Koran by heart, and became familiar with Arab culture.[3]

In 1940 Moussaieff joined the

Old City of Jerusalem. When the city fell to the Jordanians in 1948, he was taken captive and imprisoned for one year in Transjordan. He married his wife, Alisa, an Austrian native,[8] two weeks before he went into captivity.[3]

Business career

After his release, Moussaieff worked in his family's jewellery store[8] and opened his own antique jewellery shop in downtown Jerusalem.[3] He supplemented his income by smuggling "gold and antiquities from Jordan to Israel" in the 1950s. During this time he came in contact with Moshe Dayan, another confirmed antiquities smuggler, and provided Dayan with artefacts in exchange for the use of Dayan's car for transporting smuggled goods.[12][8] In 1954 he was detained under suspicion of stealing 1,000 coins and other antiquities from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Moussaieff claimed he had "paid full price" for the items, but would not disclose the seller. He was released after his wife returned the lot to the Jerusalem District Police.[8]

In 1963 he moved to London and opened his first jewellery shop in the lobby of the London

Park Lane.[3] He later opened another store on London's Bond Street. Sales increased in 1967 when wealthy Arabs from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf began to buy jewelry in London.[8] He and his wife operated the business in partnership;[6] she managed sales while he designed the jewellery.[7] In addition to diamonds, coloured gemstones, and natural pearls, Moussaieff re-set stones and pearls that he acquired at antique jewellery auctions into new jewellery designs.[6]

Moussaieff produced precious jewellery for international

Arabic fluently.[3]
Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd. has two London stores and a shop at the
Bob Cummings, Shirley MacLaine, George Raft, Peter Sellers and Frank Sinatra.[3][7] In the late 1990s he developed a following among affluent Israelis.[8]

Moussaieff's collection included rare stones such as the Moussaieff Blue Diamond, a flawless 6.04 carat stone that Alisa purchased at a 2007 Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong for $7.98 million, setting a world record in price per carat, with a final bid of $1.32 million per carat.[14] The Moussaieff Red Diamond, a trilliant cut, 5.11 carat red diamond purchased in 2001 or 2002,[6] is the world's largest known red diamond.[15]

Moussaieff retired from the business in 2004 while his wife continued to oversee sales, designs and acquisitions.[6][16][17]

Antiquities collection

See also: Three shekel ostracon

Moussaieff was regarded as one of the foremost private collectors of antiquities of the Bible and ancient Near East.[18] According to his own estimate, he owned 60,000 artefacts,[3] specialising in ancient manuscripts and personal seals from the First and Second Temple periods.[11][19]

Since he was willing to pay large sums for antiquities that proved the historical authenticity of the Bible, antiquities experts believe that some fakes and forgeries crept into in his collection.[11] In 2004[11] Moussaieff testified as a victim in a forgery trial involving the James Ossuary and the Jehoash Inscription.[20] Moussaieff had bought two ostracons (inscriptions on pottery shards) from Oded Golan, one of the defendants in the trial; these purchases were also determined to be forgeries.[21] In March 2012 the defendants were acquitted of the forgery charges.[20] Moussaieff was also involved in a seven-year lawsuit filed against him by the Republic of Iraq, accusing him of stealing artefacts from ancient Nineveh after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Though Moussaieff claimed he had bought the antiquities legitimately from a Swiss dealer, he returned them all to the Iraqi government to avoid undue publicity.[3]

Awards and recognition

Moussaieff received an honorary degree from

Bar Ilan University in 2000.[22] The university announced his death in a statement on July 1, 2015.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Jewellery Rich List 2011". Professional Jeweller. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  2. ISBN 9659024053
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Feldinger, Lauren Gelfond (17 April 2012). "The Genuine Article". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b Yavin, Jonathan (22 January 2004). "A Match Made in Heaven". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Bukharim – Beit Yisrael". Jerusalem Municipality. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Moussaieff Jewelers". GemSelect. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d "Shlomo Moussaieff". The Connoisseur (218). National Magazine Co.: 100–103 1988.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "A Man of Good Fortune". Haaretz. 10 October 2001. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  9. ISBN 978-1441152176
    .
  10. ^ "Dorrit Moussaieff". Office of the President of Iceland. 2006. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  11. ^ a b c d e Ben Zvi, Sarah Jo (2010). "Solomon's Treasures". Segula. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  12. ISBN 1593333102
    .
  13. ^ "Moussaieff Jewellers website". Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd. 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  14. ^ "Blue Diamond Sets New World Record in Price Per Carat". Hindustan Times. 9 October 2007. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  15. ^ "The Splendor of Diamonds: The Moussaieff Red". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  16. ^ Lankarani, Nazanin (11 December 2010). "Special Report: A Cut Above: Jewelry; An Exceptional Rainbow of Rare Stones". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  17. ^ Razaq, Rashid (8 April 2010). "It's a Steal Says Jeweller Who Paid £4.2m for Dome Raid Diamond". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  18. ISBN 978-0805446791
    .
  19. ^ Deutsch and Lemaire (2000), p. 5.
  20. ^
    American Schools of Oriental Research
    . 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  21. ^ "VERDICT: NOT GUILTY – Two remaining defendants cleared of forgery charges after 5-year trial". The Times of Israel. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  22. ^ a b Sokol, Sam (1 July 2015). "Jewish diamond merchant to Arab royalty passes away". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2 July 2015.

Further reading

External links
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