Expensive Jewelry up for auction for a good cause | News, Sports, Jobs

August 04, 2024

Hannah Harmon holds up a diamond-encrusted, 18-karat gold Rolex watch Sunday at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea. The watch was among more than 400 items either seized by law enforcement or sold in estate sales that were up for auction Sunday at the hotel. Kona-based nonprofit Seized Forfeited Assets Auction.org Inc. was auctioning off the items to help fund proper funerals and burials for Jewish families. • The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo

WAILEA — Early Sunday morning at the Four Seasons Resort Maui, a man by the name of James Bond stood in a hotel ballroom surrounded by millions of dollars worth of jewelry.

In one glass case sat a massive, stainless steel wristwatch, whose face was 1.75 inches in diameter, seized by police in Oklahoma. In another sat an 18-karat gold Rolex watch encrusted with diamonds. Bond was prepared to auction them off, along with more than 400 other items that had been either confiscated by police and government agencies or sold off in estate auctions.

And while everything from the auctioneer’s name to the merchandise sounded very cloak-and-dagger, the public event was actually for a good cause — helping Jewish families afford a proper burial.

“We’re not allowed to cremate due to the Holocaust,” said Bond, who changed his legal name for security reasons. “And the concept of burning someone, it’s not allowed in our faith, so it’s a big mission to do this.”

Bond, president of the Kona-based nonprofit Seized Forfeited Assets Auction.org Inc., attends auctions around the country, buying items that authorities have seized or that people have simply forgotten and never claimed, such as a watch or ring left with airport security.

Hannah Harmon, a Wailuku insurance agent who was hired to help with the auction, displays a 14-karat rose gold pendant mounted with a morganite stone and 52 diamonds. The piece is worth $210,577. • The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo

The items in Sunday’s auction came from all over the country, including police departments in Honolulu and Chicago; the sheriff’s office in Sumter County, S.C.; the 18th Judicial District Drug Force in Tennessee; the Internal Revenue Service; and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The appraisal reports for each piece don’t always say where they came from. For example, the appraisal for the stainless steel Nixon Corporal wristwatch seized by police in Tuttle, Okla., only says it was taken “for violation of laws,” with no details or dates.

On display in the ballroom Sunday were emerald rings, pearl necklaces, Rolex watches and Tahitian black pearls. A 14-karat rose gold pendant mounted with a heavy morganite stone the size of a small egg and 52 genuine round diamonds was valued at $210,577. A Rolex Super President 18-karat gold watch encrusted with diamonds carried a replacement value of $84,894.99.

“Some of this stuff is so bling, you feel like you’re at the Oscars,” said Kathi Powell, a Kihei resident with Aloha International temp agency who was hired to help with the event.

Some pieces, however, went for a fraction of their value, like the $130,000 emerald necklace that sold for $7,000. Bond said the nonprofit usually sells around 10 to 15 pieces an auction; the amount it makes depends on the items sold and the number of people who show up.

The jewelry on display ranged from emerald necklaces and diamond rings to pearl necklaces and Rolex watches. • The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo

Bond said he changed his legal name because of the high-value merchandise he deals with. He estimated that all of the items in the room Sunday amounted to about $10 million.

Originally from South Africa, Bond and his family moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s, according to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser story in 2015. He went on to run his own auction business, Roberto Galleries, in Seattle, selling items to benefit synagogues within Chabad, the Orthodox Jewish movement.

Bond moved to Hawaii in 2009 and met his French-born future wife, Joelle, at a Jewish temple in Honolulu in 2010. They were married that same year. In 2014, at the suggestion of his attorney and accountant, Bond started his own nonprofit, Seized Forfeited Assets Auction, as a way to help fund funerals and burials for Jewish families.

Bond had a personal connection to the mission. His grandmother used to wash dead bodies for a living, following a Jewish purification ritual known as “tahara” that includes pouring three buckets of water over the body as if in baptism.

Bond said he ate dinner Saturday night with Rabbi Mendy Krasnjansky of Chabad of Maui. During the meal, one Maui man mentioned how his mother’s funeral had been paid for by somebody in Kona. Turns out, it was Bond’s organization.

James Bond, president of Seized Forfeited Assets Auction.org Inc., calls out bids Sunday. Bond legally changed his name for security reasons because of the high-value merchandise he deals with. • The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo

“We didn’t know each other until last night,” Bond said. “He was so grateful.”

“It’s also one of the most rewarding charities you can do, because you can’t ask favors from the dead,” Bond added.

He said he does auctions weekly in Kona, with occasional events around the state. Bond said he comes to Maui about every six months.

While there were only a handful of bidders Sunday, that meant less competition and discounted prices for sisters Laura Legsay, Eloise Okimoto and Lyndell Beach of Kula.

“Coming with my sisters is just kind of dangerous,” Okimoto, a retired nurse, said after getting a pair of hoop earrings for less than a quarter of their appraised price.

Legsay, also retired, said she saw an ad for the auction and decided to “grab my sisters and all come down here and have some fun.”

“I’m spending my kids’ inheritance, how’s that,” Legsay quipped, though she added she has three daughters and that “somebody’s going to be lucky.”

The fact that the items were seized does add to the intrigue, Legsay agreed.

“You kind of wonder where they came from and who owned them prior to it being here,” she said. “Who knows who had these jewelry around their neck or on their fingers or on their wrists?”

Beach, a self-employed small-business owner who doesn’t normally go jewelry shopping, said she was just planning to tag along but ended up buying something for herself.

“Sometimes you just got to get what you want,” Beach said. “You save and save and save. Sometimes you just got to splurge. It’s like Christmas in the summer.”

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.

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The jewelry on display ranged from emerald necklaces and diamond rings to pearl necklaces and Rolex watches. • The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo

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