Mary Tyler Moore’s Jewelry Collection Going to Auction, Raising Funds to Combat Diabetes-Related Vision Loss
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“I said to someone the other day, I could have chosen to just put all these pieces in the safe and then every couple of months go sit with them and cry and smile, or I could give them new life and have them have another purpose,” Dr. S. Robert Levine tells The Hollywood Reporter of his decision to auction the jewelry and watch collection of his wife of 34 years, the beloved TV icon Mary Tyler Moore who died in 2017.
That new purpose is raising funds for the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, an organization that works to help preserve and restore vision in people who have diabetes. 21 pieces owned by the star — including a gold Bulgari necklace with a Roman coin commissioned by the couple (with an estimate of $25,000-$35,000) and a 5.14-carat emerald-cut diamond ring (estimate $40,000-$60,000) — are being sold in December as part of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Fine Jewels auctions, and the nonprofit will be the beneficiary.
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“These things were very personal to Mary. They all brought her great joy. All these pieces were things that she wore regularly,” says Levine. “It’s a tough choice for me to put them out there, but it’s the right thing to do because now they’ll have a new life. They’ll bring joy to others, and they’ll serve a very important purpose in sustaining Mary’s legacy.”
That legacy includes not just her on-screen career — which is lovingly chronicled in the HBO documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore, released in May — but also her role as a philanthropist who raised funds for and awareness of Type 1 diabetes.
“Mary suffered with Type 1 diabetes for many, many years,” says Levine, a cardiologist, who first met the star when he went on a house call to treat Moore’s mother in the early 1980s.
“She was diagnosed at age 30. One of the most significant complications that she suffered was her near blindness from diabetic retinal disease,” he continues, explaining that Moore’s eyesight declined significantly in her later years. “By 2012, 2013, she really couldn’t safely walk in low light or on her own without guidance.”
Moore’s own health challenges became a springboard, inspiring her to help others. “She was the chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for over 30 years,” says Levine, “and as chairman of that organization, she helped raise awareness of the devastating impacts of diabetes and its complications, as well as she helped them raise billions of dollars to fund research and many, many billions more from the federal government’s support for the programs of the National Institutes of Health … major, major progress was made. In fact, as many as 85 to 90 percent of blindness can now be prevented if people get the right assessment and care. But there is still a stubborn group of millions of people around the world that suffer from significant visual loss and blindness from diabetes. So it was really Mary’s dream that one day future generations would not have to suffer as she had.”
Levine, who was Moore’s third husband, speaks with a devotion and love for her that is palpable, especially when recalling how they became engaged, a moment which they later commemorated with a piece of jewelry.
“We designed it together,” says Levine of the diamond-and-ruby-set Bulgari ‘Monete’ necklace that he gave Moore as a gift to celebrate their wedding in 1983. Earlier that year, the two had travelled to the Middle East.
“We were traveling in Israel and Egypt. And there was a distance between our age. I always said I was the old man and she was the younger,” says Levine, who was 15 years younger than the actress. “But folks questioned our relationship and [said] ‘What are they doing together?’ And it kind of came to a head when we stayed at the King David hotel in a suite on the top floor with this beautiful view of the old city of Jerusalem. Mary and I are there together, kind of in awe; there’s a power that is there in that setting that is the presence of God.”
“So — looking at that thousands-of-years-old city — it forced a question for us, which was, ‘Well, what do you think about your life going forward?’ continues Levine. “And then Mary asked the question, ‘Why wouldn’t we get married?’ And I said, ‘Well, you’re right of course. I mean, why shouldn’t we get married? And so I proposed to her in that ancient place.”
That trip in turn inspired the idea of creating a necklace that included a Roman coin. “This coin is a point of reference — it’s a note to that ancientness that we shared together and a reminder of what love and life together is, it’s forever,” says Levine. “So a coin that’s 2,000. Years old is forever. So a commitment of marriage is forever. So we used that construct to create this gift. Bulgari was wonderful; the designers did a wonderful job with it. But it was really a recognition of the circumstances of our decision to get married.”
The auction also includes a number of pieces by Elsa Peretti including the jewelry designer’s bone cuffs. “Those were iconic for women of the seventies,” says Levine. “Mary Richards, one of Mary’s principal characters, was the independent woman of the seventies — and the Elsa Peretti bone cuffs were jewelry that women bought for themselves. So we wanted to have those pieces in this presentation because it so represents Mary and her persona. It’s also something that she really likes — pieces that had a subtle elegance, but had some weight to them.”
Moore, he notes, “liked to wear jewelry, but it wasn’t really showy stuff.” The emerald-cut diamond ring, he points out, “is a very significant diamond, but if you look at the setting — and that’s a setting that Mary designed — you’ll see that she didn’t want to mount it high on a platinum band. She wanted it to be low on a band that was actually wider than the diamond itself, so that it was more subtle. She wore that every single day. That was her favorite ring.”
Also in the sale are two items that Moore wore when she won her seventh Emmy Award in 1993 (for Stolen Babies): a platinum Girard-Perregaux wristwatch accented with baguette diamonds (with an estimate of $15,000-$20,000) and a diamond ring weighing 2.4 carats highlighting three old European- and old mine-cut stones ($5,000-$7,000).
Additional items include a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch with large numerals on the dial which Levine bought her for its legibility when her eyesight was severely deteriorating; a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet that was a gift from her second husband, Grant Tinker, the co-founder of MTM Enterprises; and a collection of three heart-shaped pendants set with diamonds.
“The heart was an important thing in our lives together — just a representation of Mary,” says Levine. “Mary, I always say, would always greet the world with a smile. I called it her eternal smile. So greeting the world with a smile and an open heart. so those are hearts that I over the years found for her.”
Highlights from the collection — which are part of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale on Dec. 5 and the house’s Fine Jewels sale running Nov. 28 to Dec. 7 — will be on display in Los Angeles Nov. 14-16 before returning to New York for a public exhibit starting Dec. 1.
“Mary Tyler Moore was a true American classic, and this is reflected in every piece from her beautiful collection of jewels,” says Frank Everett, vice chairman of Sotheby’s Jewelry, in a statement. “Detailed, delicate and refined, Mary’s jewels not only highlight her understated elegance, but also reveal a passionate collector who delighted in beautifully crafted objects. It is our honor and a privilege to offer these treasures from Mary’s collection, which are being sold to benefit the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, adding to her enduring legacy as an entertainer, philanthropist, feminist icon, and truly remarkable woman.”
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