UPDATE: Prominent jeweler’s $4M inventory up for auction

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The inventory of a prominent Indianapolis jewelry store is set to be sold at auction Dec. 19 to satisfy a creditor’s debt.

A creditor of Aronstam Fine Jewelers is liquidating $4 million of the shop's jewelry and equipment totaling about 1,500 items, according to Key Auctioneers, which is conducting the sale.

The auction will begin at 4 p.m. and will be held at Key’s headquarters at 5520 S. Harding St. on the city’s south side. Online bidding will be available. The inventory can be viewed in person beginning at noon the day of the sale, said Mark Pike, Key’s advertising manager.

Aronstam’s creditor seized the jeweler’s inventory after the store fell behind on payments, Pike said.

Aronstam Fine Jewelers, 8685 River Crossing Blvd., across from Saks Fifth Avenue at Keystone at the Crossing, is owned by Marc Aronstam, who's been designing and selling jewelry for 40 years.

Aronstam originally opened his local store in1985 at East 86th Street and Westfield Boulevard in Nora. He opened a second store, called M. Stevens Jewelers, in 1995 at the River Crossing location. That store was renamed Aronstam Fine Jewelers in 2005 after the Nora location closed.    

Reached Monday afternoon, Aronstam confirmed that his inventory has been seized, but said he planned to remain open doing custom jewelry work for clients while he replenishes store inventory with the help of other investors.

“I’ve had people step up to help me, so the store’s not going anywhere,” he said. "I haven’t closed and I don’t plan on closing. This hasn’t affected any of my customers and my custom work.”

The creditor is Regions Bank. Aronstam’s inventory includes his own custom-made designs, as well as pieces by Steven Kretchmer, Varna, Alex Sepkus and other noteworthy jewelry designers.

“Obviously, when you’re buying jewelry you want to know that it’s authentic and that someone stands behind it, which speaks to his credibility,” Pike said of Aronstam.

Aronstam has built quite a reputation in the jewelry business since helping start Argentum Silversmiths in downtown Bloomington at the age of 19, according to an online bio. The store, renamed Argentum Jewelry, is still in business.

His store at Keystone at the Crossing once was named the Top Designer Retailer in the country by the Contemporary Design Guild.

Aronstam is past-president of the Jewelers Association of Indiana and former chairman of the Indiana Retail Council.

Besides jewelry, the auction will include watches, fossils, geodes, kaleidoscopes, fine knives and pens, and digital cameras.

Jeweler tools such as an oven and engraver, and a magnetic finisher, microscope, gem scope and ring-sizer also will be available.

The complete selection and photos of the items can be found on Key Auctioneers’ website.

  
 

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