Neil Lane’s Historic Jewels To Shine At The Toledo Museum Of Art

Lucien Hirtz (French, 1864–1928) for Boucheron bow tie brooch exhibited at the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts d.coratifs et industriels modernes, Paris. Platinum, onyx, coral, jade, lapis lazuli, and diamond. Collection of Neil Lane.

Lendon Flanagan

To the casual observer Neil Lane is known for his celebrity-worn jewels on red carpets, his line of diamond engagement rings and his role on ABC’s “The Bachelor” franchise. Those more familiar with the versatile designer and celebrity know that he also has a world class collection of vintage and antique jewels.

Lane’s personal collection of more than 150 jewels from the 19th and 20th century will be on display at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in an exhibition titled, “Radiance and Reverie: Jewels from the Collection of Neil Lane.” It will be the first public exhibition of Lane’s historic jewels. The jewelry exhibition will run from October 18 till January 18, 2026, in the TMA’s Glass Pavilion, an award-winning contemporary curved building made entirely of glass and steel.

The exhibition is co-created by Diane Wright, senior curator of Glass and Contemporary Craft at TMA, and Emily Stoehrer, curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Stoehrer knew Lane personally prior to curating this exhibition. In fact, Stoehrer’s doctoral dissertation included a case study of how Lane influenced taste in the 1990s and 2000s. She describes Lane as a consummate collector.

“He’s always looking for the next object, the next piece of choice,” she said. “I think each chapter brings more interest in terms of amazing pieces that he has yet to discover.”

Designers and artists represented in the exhibition include important French and Italian designers such as Suzanne Belperron, Boucheron, Cartier, Castellani, Jean Fouquet, Raymond Templier and Van Cleef & Arpels; and equally important American jewelers including Marcus & Co., Paul Flato, Raymond Yard, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany & Co. The two curators say that each piece in the exhibition reveals stories that are both personal to Lane and historic through their provenance.

“I love the storytelling qualities of these works of art, and the stories are really layered and come together and are brought out through the exhibition,” Stoehrer said. “Many of these works were exhibited in international exhibitions in the 19th and early 20th century. There are great examples that have provenance dating back to early Hollywood, with pieces belonging to Mae West, Ginger, Rogers, Joan Crawford and others. And Neil brings his own story to them—the story of discovering them. Of becoming so attached to them that he can’t bear to part with them. And then the ways in which starting in the 1990s he begins lending many of these jewels out for red carpet moments, and so we have this layered history that we’re able to uncover in the galleries.”

The exhibition is divided into three sections, which Wright says serves a dual purpose. “It gives a general chronology for this jewelry. And it also dovetails into Neil’s personal story of collecting.”

The first section, “Paris: The World Stage,” includes Lane’s earliest acquisitions we well as many of the oldest pieces on display in the exhibition. French jewels from the 19th century started Lane’s journey with collecting jewelry, according to Wright and Stoehrer. It includes pieces rooted in Egyptian, Gothic and Renaissance Revival styles, such as scarab pendants, intricate archaeological goldwork and romantic medieval forms.

“It starts in Paris and the eclecticism of design and revivals in the 19th century,” Wright said. “This is really where Neil dives into the jewelry world, and he makes his first serious purchase of jewelry.”

The second section, “New York: An American Jewelry House” is dedicated to Lane’s admiration of historic Tiffany jewels.

“The deepest concentration in Neil’s collection is Tiffany. We have about 45 pieces from Tiffany from Tiffany & Co. and works from Louis Comfort Tiffany,” Wright said. “Out of the three sections in exhibition, this one entire section is almost entirely dedicated to that work.”

The third section is titled, “Hollywood: Glamour.” Through his relationships with Hollywood celebrities, Lane emerged as a celebrity in his own right—an identity that remains central to his renown.

It is here where the stories of the jewels are most layered. As mentioned earlier the collection includes historic jewels owned by early Hollywood stars, Mae West, Ginger, Rogers, Joan Crawford. These pieces were loaned by Lane to current stars to wear on red carpet presentations. These celebrities include Jennifer Garner, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Lawrence.

“This is where Neil spent most of his career as a dealer, working with people in Hollywood and the entertainment industry,” Wright said. “You first have the early studio world, where the movie stars owned their jewelry. Then we show you how those pieces were worn again on the red carpet.”

Stoehrer says the exhibition will show Lane in a way that many people haven’t seen. Through this, they will learn about Lane as a person and what inspires his creations.

“I think within the jewelry industry people know that Neil has this incredible collection. But more broadly, people associate him with ‘The Bachelor’ and with the rings he designs,” Stoehrer said. “I think people will be very surprised and delighted to see how far reaching his collection is, and to learn more about him as a collector. One thing that became evident to us throughout this process is while all these pieces have important stories and histories, most of the time, when Neil bought them, he didn’t know they had those stories. He bought things that he loved, that spoke to him. Over the years they’ve been with him, the stories revealed themselves as he discovered drawings or archival footage that showed the history of these pieces. To share that discovery with the visitors, I think will surprise them as they go through the collection. I think they’ll leave with a much deeper understanding of Neil as a collector and of what informs his esthetic.”

The exhibition includes a book published by Rizzoli with the same title as the exhibition written by Stoehrer and Wright with contributions from jewelry historian and author, Marion Fasel, author, Mayukh Sen, and French jewelry historian, Claudine Seroussi Bretagne.

Stoehrer relates that the idea of an exhibition came about at the same time she and Lane were discussing the book project.

“Neil had reached out to me in 2022 saying he was interested in working on a book and thinking about getting his collection out there. It happened that he was introduced to the Toledo Museum of Art around the same time, and they were interested in doing an exhibition, and so the whole thing came together as an exhibition and a book,” Stoehrer explained.

“Diane and I have been working together now for three years on this project, and it’s been an exciting opportunity to get Neil’s entire collection out there in a way that it never has been before,” she continued. “This is one of the most important collections in the country and it spans 100 years of jewelry history, both in America and Europe. This is the first time it will be shown in its entirety, and Toledo is the perfect place to do that. It’s a wonderful resource for jewelry and for art. We’re going to have this beautiful space in the glass pavilion to showcase it in its fullest glory.”