“They carry it like an injured person, four guys,” Sarbakhsh said of maneuvering the rocks. To transport especially unwieldy ones to customers’ homes, founder Mike Sarbakhsh builds a custom wooden crate and a platform that he said resembles an ambulance stretcher. “My house that I built - I put them in the foundation.”Īs status crystals have become a coveted commodity, a constellation of related businesses are catering to rich collectors around the world.īeverly Packing in Bellflower specializes in handling and moving expensive artwork and “unusual pieces,” including all of Crystalarium’s enormous crystals. “I’ve been using crystals for 15 years, my entire career,” she said. She also carts her own $50,000 collection of one dozen opulent crystals from multimillion-dollar listing to multimillion-dollar listing to help stage the megamansions and to metaphysically invigorate those that have languished without an offer. (Ryan West / Courtesy of the Beverly Hills Estates) There was a treat-yourself mentality and a wellness-driven desire to infuse the home with mystical “healing” energy after a turbulent time. Stuck indoors for much of the last year with fewer opportunities for discretionary spending, many well-off homeowners went on lavish redecorating and renovating sprees or bought new properties in need of furnishings. “You can turn a handle so the thing opens and closes like a clam under the ocean.”
“They have these giant amethyst geodes from Brazil - I’m talking the size of an efficiency apartment or an SUV - and they break these things in half,” Megaw, the exhibits chair for the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, said of the kinds of crystals available today. After all, he noted, “there are only so many Rembrandts out there.” Longtime mineral collector Peter Megaw said the global market for high-end crystals has increasingly come to resemble fine art, with scarcity driving demand for spectacular and unique pieces, and more attention being paid not just to size but also attributes such as color, transparency and flawlessness. No longer the stuff of pendants and pockets for the New Age set, crystals are being sculpted into love seats and coffee tables, set atop pedestals and illuminated with dramatic uplighting, and sliced lengthwise before being mounted to look like life-size angel wings. But Crystalarium has sold four in recent months: an orb-shaped amethyst one for a celebrity singer a his-and-hers set bought sight unseen by a Bel-Air couple, who placed them poolside and a white quartz version that a customer lugged aboard his yacht despite its 900-pound weight.Īs crystals of all types and sizes have skyrocketed in popularity, wealthy buyers seeking one-of-a-kind showstoppers are gravitating toward ever-larger statement pieces. This particular specimen, the largest the West Hollywood store has procured, costs $45,000. It’s not cheap to own a sparkly boulder chair. Seven feet tall and encrusted with lavender spikes throughout its craggy interior, the 1-ton amethyst throne required five men to muscle it through the double doors of gem shop Crystalarium.
0 kommentar(er)
