This lovely pair of Christian Dior cufflinks seemed straightforward enough. Same design. In the original box. This listing is a snap to write...or is it?
We like to get all jewelry under a magnifying glass and interrogation light to make sure there are no flaws that can't be seen with the naked, aging eye. These seemed like a perfect pair until we noticed that one was marked "Christian Dior" as expected, but the other was marked "Destino."
This got our antennae twitching. Were these a knockoff? What is the meaning of this incongruence? And who or what is Destino?
The explanation is quite simple and not the least bit nefarious.
Ralph Destino Ltd. held the license to manufacture and sell Christian Dior jewelry and accessories in North America and Canada. These dual marked vintage cufflinks indicate they were produced under this licensing agreement.
They were probably made in the 1980s or 1990s when Dior did a lot of licensing for costume jewelry that was sold in department stores and malls.
We had never heard of Ralph Destino Ltd., so, with the natural curiosity that most vintage sellers possess, we starting digging a rabbit hole to find out more. It's kind of interesting.
The company was founded in 1958 by Ralph Destino Sr., who handled marketing and sales, and Ralph Destino Jr., who designed their sterling silver jewelry. Sold at fine department stores, the company grew into three divisions during the 1960s, although Destino Sr did not live to see it. He succumbed to cancer in 1962.
In 1971, Destino Jr. sold the family business and joined luxury jewelry maker Cartier as president of the East Asia division. In 1976, he became president of the American Cartier brand, which grew from two stores to 23. He became chairman of all of Cartier, Inc. in 1986. His main job, he said, was battling counterfeiters of Cartier and Yves St. Laurent products. Imagine trying to do that job now.
As an executive at Cartier, he no longer designed jewelry. But he did find time to fly to Detroit to design the Cartier edition for the Lincoln Designer Concept, which ran from 1976-1983 and also featured cars by Bill Blass, Givenchy and Emilio Pucci.
After 32 years at Cartier, Destino Jr. went on to another luxury jeweler, Van Cleef & Arpels, for 13 years. In 1999, he was inducted into the National Jewelry Retailer Hall of Fame and was awarded the Jeweler's of America Gem Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012.
Destino Jr. is probably spoken of in reverential tones in the jewelry industry, but this vintage seller had never heard of him. What will we do with this knowledge? Wait patiently until someone innocently mentions the Lincoln Designer Concept cars and then knowingly say "Ah yes, the Cartier edition was designed by Ralph Destino Jr."