Sunday, May 11, 2008; Posted: 07:49 AM
The gems adorning Lorraine McKiniry, one of two silver-gowned models strolling the floor for Fifth Avenue jeweler Harry Winston, were worth well over $500,000. Her 100-carat diamond-and-emerald necklace alone was priced to move at $440,000.
That was the small stuff. The big-ticket items on display Wednesday at Waterbury-Oxford Airport gleamed on the sun-soaked tarmac outside Hangar F.
There John, a private pilot for "a wealthy financial guy out of New York City," admired a $50 million Bombardier Global Express jet, which flies near the speed of sound and for which there is currently a five-year waiting list.
"Goes high, goes far, goes fast," said John, who did not want to disclose his last name.
The Bombardier was merely the largest of 18 private-use aircraft on display by the likes of Embraer, Falcon, Sikorsky and Cessna.
Call the event a "billionaire's bazaar." Times may be tough in America, but conspicuous consumption still has its champions. Brad Kost is one of them.
Kost, chief executive of Key Air, an aircraft management and charter company based at the state-owned general aviation airport in Oxford, invited 1,500 "strategically targeted people" to Wednesday's lavishly catered hangar sale. The idea was to bring together Key Air's patrons and draw attention to the airport, a touchdown spot for sports stars headed to ESPN's Bristol studios.
"The dollar may be weak," Kost said, "but we have a lot of people from Russia, from India and from China stepping in right now."
Halfway through the five-hour event, Kost optimistically estimated that about 1,000 people had shown up to swill Moet & Chandon and pluck Kobe beef crostini and lobster-cucumber canapes from passing caterers' trays while eyeballing Maseratis, Bugattis, Ferraris, original artwork and, of course, jewels, jets and helicopters (Sikorsky, naturally).
About 1,100 people ultimately showed up, he said later -- at least one of whom closed a deal to buy a Bombardier jet.
It was hard to tell how many of the guests were bona fide high-rollers, but a live auction late in the afternoon smoked out a few.
Omar Amanat, once an entrepreneur of day-trading firms and now a film producer, came away with four days and three nights on the private island of Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson for $22,000.
"That was a steal," Amanat said afterward. He also successfully bid $13,200 for a limited edition Harry Winston wristwatch.
Branson was not present, but David Clark, who works in "astronaut relations" for Virgin Galactic, Branson's commercial space travel company, was on hand. At least one visitor stopped by Clark's display to plop down a $150,000 deposit for a single seat on Virgin's six-passenger Spaceship II, he said.
Virgin expects to start commercial voyages into space in two to three years. The company has sold 300 seats already, according to Clark, who declined to identify his newest customer, allowing only that it was a man from New England.
"We're looking for more women," he said.
Amanat described himself as a friend of Suhail Rizvi, a Greenwich resident whose private equity firm Rizvi Traverse is the principal owner of Key Air and a related aviation construction firm, Keystone, also based at Oxford.
Part trade show, part sales event, part party, the high-end bazaar seemed dominated by people working for the merchandisers, private aviation industry insiders and friends and relatives of people involved the production. It nonetheless offered a glimpse into the world of ultra luxury goods and services for the pampered global elite -- and a few well connected locals.
Howard Gross, a lawyer in Farmington who, at 85, still practices three days a week, said he didn't know how he ended up on the guest list. "I was invited -- I don't know why, but I was invited," he said.
The mystery didn't seem to bother him.
But not owning the Bentley Arnage parked nearby did.
"A guy on my street has that sucker," said Gross, of West Hartford, who described his legal expertise as asset protection. "I drool every time it goes by."
Gross and his friend and longtime client, John Walker of East Granby, a retired businessman, said they weren't planning any major purchases. Several vendors acknowledged viewing the event more as a marketing and networking opportunity than as a chance to close deals.
"We try to associate ourselves to the rich and famous, to those things that people dream of," said Franck Girard, the top representative in Connecticut for Moet Hennesy USA, purveyor of Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon and Veuve Clicquot champagnes, for example, and a sponsor of the event.
Moet provided most of the wine and spirits for the event and wasn't in sales mode.
Simply being in the room opened up possibilities.
As one Harry Winston salesman said Wednesday, "Whoever can buy a jet, can buy a Harry Winston. I mean the bigger pieces."
Contact Eric Gershon at .
To see more of The Hartford Courant, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.courant.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Hartford Courant, Conn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
More News:
Market Updates |
Stock Alerts |
All Trading News |
Stock Index
    |
   |
