Houston’s Most Dazzling Merger Solves a Jewelry Mystery: Liz Glanville Hasn’t Retired, She’s Teaming Up With the King of Sparkle

In answer to questions bubbling throughout the social swirl: No, the ever-glamorous Liz Glanville has not retired. Yes, her Tanglewood boutique, DeVille Fine Jewelry, has closed. No, she did not go out of business. Cheers, she has merged her company with Tenenbaum Jewelers.

What happened? She and Tenenbaum’s dashing man-about-town Tony Bradfield have been friends for some time and often talked about working together on a project.

“Our paths kept crossing at events,” he says over coffee in his shop’s private salon. “Liz is a wonderfully intelligent, vivacious, beautiful woman and it’s just easy to get attracted to her and want to be around her, just to be honest.”

She blushes at the compliment.

It is very much a mutual admiration society. “Tony is an icon in the industry and this store really puts Houston on the map as far as a leader in jewelry,” Glanville tells PaperCity. “It’s not only estate jewelry, it’s modern jewelry. It’s branded jewelry. He’s a leader in the field.”

The timing was perfect for a project bigger than either had initially imagined. “My lease was up and that was an incentive. That made it a natural transition,” Glanville notes.

With a career that has included Cartier, Ashford.com, Bulgari and 11 years with her own company, Glanville brings to the table her distinct expertise in the fashion forward and innovative worlds of fine jewelry. With the merger, Tenenbaum has created a section called “Liz’s Picks,” which features a changing array of her favorite pieces.

Consider it the DeVille collection within Tenenbaum.

Tenenbaum’s Major Moves

Since purchasing Tenenbaum in 2010, Bradfield has absorbed a total of four jewelry interests while expanding the firm’s reach to include David Webb, Seaman Schepps and most recently Buccellati. In addition, Tenenbaum boasts the largest collection of estate jewelry and watches in the southern United States.

“We’re not trying to get bigger,” Bradfield says. “We’re just trying to get better.”

While Glanville won’t have the day-to-day responsibility of running her own firm, Bradfield says the she will be “working with us on the acquisition of new inventory as well as working with us on repositioning our inventory.

As a philanthropist in her own right along with husband Tom, Glanville easily embraces the Tenenbaum tenet of giving back. Since taking over the firm, now 43 years old, Bradfield has made a commitment to philanthropy that finds him donating jewelry and high-dollar gift cards to a variety of non-profits. Houston Grand Opera, in particular has benefited from the Tenenbaum largesse. In fact, in partnership with HGO, as the Buccellati representative in Houston, Bradfield and the lauded Italian jewelry house are designating a portion of proceeds from all sales from the Buccellati Opera Collection to the opera company.

“You have to decide when enough is enough,” Bradfield explains. “We are so privileged. . . jewelry is a very easy conduit. It lends itself to giving. I’m at a point in my life when I say, ‘If you can do it, why not do it?’ It’s important in our world. If you have it, you should share it.”