, native_name_lang = Hebrew
, image =
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption =
, birth_name =
, birth_date = 1925
, birth_place =
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
, death_date = July 1, 2015 (aged 90)
, death_place =
, death_cause =
, resting_place =
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Israel
, resting_place_coordinates =
, monuments =
, nationality =
, other_names =
, citizenship =
, education =
, alma_mater =
, occupation = Jewelry merchant
, years_active = 1950s–2015
, employer =
, organization = Moussaieff Jewellery Ltd.
, agent =
, known_for = Dealer in exclusive diamonds and gemstones
Biblical antiquities collector
, notable_works =
, style =
, spouse = Alisa
, partner =
, children =
DorritTamara
Sharon
, parents = Rehavia Moussaieff
, relatives =
Shlomo Moussaieff, grandfather
, website = http://www.moussaieff-jewellers.com/
, footnotes =
Shlomo Moussaieff (1925 – July 1, 2015) was an Israeli jeweler, of
Bukharan Jew
Bukharan Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכארא/яҳудиёни Бухоро, ''Yahudiyoni Bukhoro''; he, יהודי בוכרה, ''Yehudey Bukhara''), in modern times also called Bukharian Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכאר ...
ish descent, who was the grandson of the wealthy gemstone trader
Rabbi Moussaieff from
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
. Founder of Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd., he and his wife and
business partner
A business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties. Alternatively, it may be ...
, Alisa, were ranked No. 315 on the
Sunday Times Rich List 2011, with a fortune estimated at £220 million. Moussaieff produced precious jewellery for international
royalty and high society, including Western royalty as well as those from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
and
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...
states. He spoke
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
fluently.
In addition, Moussaieff was regarded as one of the world's top private collectors of
antiquities
Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...
associated with the Bible and
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
, with a collection of 60,000 artefacts.
Biography
Shlomo Moussaieff was the second of 12 children of Rehavia Moussaieff, a
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
-born jewellery dealer.
He was named after his grandfather,
Shlomo Moussaieff, a wealthy
Bukharan merchant who was one of the founders of the
Bukharim
The Bukharan Quarter ( he, שכונת הבוכרים, ''Shkhunat HaBukharim''), also HaBukharim Quarter or Bukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem, Israel. The neighborhood was established by Bukharan Jews of the Old Yish ...
neighbourhood in Jerusalem in 1891. Rehavia, who later traded in fine gems in Paris,
introduced Shlomo to the jewellery trade at a young age.
Shlomo's youngest brother, Alon, also became a Jerusalem jewellery dealer. Several of his sisters own jewellery stores: Hannah in Jerusalem's
King David Hotel, Naomi in London and Aviva in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
.
His father, a strict disciplinarian,
threw him out of the house at the age of 12 because he refused to apply himself to his studies. Moussaieff claims he had
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
and was unable to read and write.
He began sleeping in synagogues,
buses, and even the street,
and worked for a carpenter in
Sanhedria
Sanhedria ( he, סנהדריה) is a neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It lies east of Golda Meir Street, adjacent to Ramat Eshkol, Shmuel HaNavi, Maalot Dafna and the Sanhedria Cemetery.
History
Sanhedria is named after the Tombs of the ...
.
After hours, he hung around the
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
-era
Tombs of the Sanhedrin
Tombs of the Sanhedrin ( he, קברי הסנהדרין, ''Kivrei HaSanhedrin''), also Tombs of the Judges, is an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sanhedria. Built in the ...
in the nearby park. Inside the caves, which were then open to the public, he discovered ancient coins that he sold to traders. He also carved up lead coffins and sold the lead in the
Armenian Quarter
The Armenian Quarter ( ar, حارة الأرمن, ''Harat al-Arman''; he, הרובע הארמני, ''Ha-Rova ha-Armeni''; hy, Հայոց թաղ, ) is one of the four sectors of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Located in the southwestern co ...
.
Apprehended and beaten by an Arab policeman, he was brought before an Arab judge and sentenced to nine months in a
reform school
A reform school was a penal institution, generally for teenagers mainly operating between 1830 and 1900.
In the United Kingdom and its colonies reformatories commonly called reform schools were set up from 1854 onwards for youngsters who were ...
in
Tulkarm
Tulkarm, Tulkarem or Tull Keram ( ar, طولكرم, ''Ṭūlkarm'') is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located in the Tulkarm Governorate of the State of Palestine. The Israeli city of Netanya is to the west, and the Palestinian cities ...
. He asked to learn in a
madrassa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
, where he found it easy to learn the
Koran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing ...
by heart, and became familiar with Arab culture.
In 1940 Moussaieff joined the
Etzel which opposed
British rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
in Palestine.
Upon the recommendation of his Etzel leader, he joined the British Army at age 17 to fight
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Germany during World War II. Stationed in the Egyptian desert and
Livorno
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (prono ...
, Italy, he searched through synagogue ''
genizot'' (treasuries) during his free time and bought old
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defi ...
manuscripts and
marriage contracts written by well-known rabbis.
In 1947 he rejoined the Etzel to battle the
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1 ...
in 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,
two weeks before he went into captivity.
Business career
After his release, Moussaieff worked in his family's jewellery store
and opened his own
antique jewellery shop in downtown Jerusalem.
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
Moshe Dayan ( he, משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) dur ...
, another confirmed antiquities smuggler, and provided Dayan with artefacts in exchange for the use of Dayan's car for transporting smuggled goods.
In 1954 he was detained under suspicion of stealing 1,000 coins and other antiquities from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...
. 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
Jerusalem District Police ( he, משטרת מחוז ירושלים) is a regional district command of the Israel Police. It is considered one of the oldest police commands in Israel.
History
Jerusalem's police history goes back to the British M ...
.
In 1963 he moved to London and opened his first jewellery shop in the lobby of the London
Hilton on
Park Lane
Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from Ma ...
.
He later opened another store on London's
Bond Street
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
. Sales increased in 1967 when wealthy Arabs from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf began to buy jewelry in London.
He and his wife operated the business in
partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, government ...
;
she managed sales while he designed the jewellery.
In addition to diamonds, coloured gemstones, and natural pearls, Moussaieff re-set stones and pearls that he acquired at antique jewellery
auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...
s into new jewellery designs.
Today Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd. has two London stores and a shop at the
Grand Hotel Kempinski Geneve in Switzerland. Moussaieff's clients included government figures such as
Imelda Marcos
Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...
and
Princess Ashraf and
Princess Shams of Iran, and celebrities such as,
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable ...
,
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
,
Stavros Niarchos
Stavros Spyrou Niarchos ( el, Σταύρος Σπύρου Νιάρχος, ; 3 July 1909 – 15 April 1996) was a Greek billionaire shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both ...
,
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor.
Gabor competed in the 1933 Miss Hungary pageant, where she p ...
,
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime E ...
,
Bob Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as '' The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and '' Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in ...
,
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...
,
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...
,
Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...
and
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...
.
In the late 1990s he developed a following among affluent Israelis.
Moussaieff's collection included rare stones such as the Moussaieff
Blue Diamond
Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace amounts of boron that contaminate the crystalline la ...
, a flawless 6.04
carat stone that Alisa purchased at a 2007
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
auction in Hong Kong for $7.98 million, setting a world record in price per carat, with a final bid of $1.32 million per carat. The
Moussaieff Red Diamond
The Moussaieff Red Diamond (formerly known as the Red Shield Diamond) is a diamond measuring 5.11 carats (1.022 g) with a triangular brilliant cut (sometimes called a trillion or a trilliant cut), rated in color as Fancy Red by the Gemological In ...
, a
trilliant cut, 5.11 carat red diamond purchased in 2001 or 2002,
is the world's largest known red diamond.
Moussaieff retired from the business in 2004 while his wife continued to oversee sales, designs and acquisitions.
Antiquities collection
Moussaieff was regarded as one of the foremost private collectors of antiquities of the Bible and ancient Near East. According to his own estimate, he owned 60,000 artefacts,
specialising in ancient manuscripts and personal
seals from the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
and
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
periods.
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
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbid ...
crept into in his collection.
In 2004
Moussaieff testified as a victim in a forgery trial involving the
James Ossuary
The James Ossuary is a 1st-century limestone box that was used for containing the bones of the dead. An Aramaic inscription meaning "James (Jacob), son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" is cut into one side of the box. The ossuary attracted scholarly at ...
and the
Jehoash Inscription
The Jehoash Inscription is the name of a controversial artifact rumored to have surfaced in a construction site or Muslim cemetery near the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.
The inscription describes repairs made to the temple in Jerusalem by Jehoash, ...
.
Moussaieff had bought two
ostracon
An ostracon (Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of sto ...
s (inscriptions on pottery shards) from
Oded Golan
Oded Golan ( he, עודד גולן) (born 1951 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli engineer, entrepreneur, and antiquities collector. He owns one of the largest collections of Biblical archaeology in the world.
Golan was accused by the Israel Antiquitie ...
, one of the defendants in the trial; these purchases were also determined to be forgeries. In March 2012 the defendants were acquitted of the forgery charges.
Moussaieff was also involved in a seven-year lawsuit filed against him by the
Republic of Iraq
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a " government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...
, accusing him of stealing artefacts from ancient
Nineveh after the fall of
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
. 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.
Recognition and awards
Moussaieff received an honorary degree from
Bar Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic ...
in 2000.
[ The university announced his death in a statement on July 1, 2015.] Shlomo Moussaieff was 90.
Personal
Moussaieff and his wife resided on Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable r ...
in the Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world.
...
district of London. They have three daughters:Their eldest, Dorrit, was the former First Lady of Iceland and is married to the former President of Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Their second daughter, Tamar, works in the business. Their third daughter is Sharon.
Works on Moussaieff's antiquities collection
*
*
* ]
*
References
External links
Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd. – Legal information (2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moussaieff, Shlomo
Israeli Jews
British Jews
Bukharan Jews
Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom
Israeli businesspeople
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
People from Jerusalem
Businesspeople from London
Irgun members
British Army personnel of World War II
Israeli prisoners of war
1925 births
2015 deaths
People with dyslexia
20th-century English businesspeople