In 1967, a remarkable find was made in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania: a dazzling blue-violet gemstone unlike anything seen before—tanzanite. Initially mistaken by miners for a rich sapphire deposit, the discovery turned out to be a completely new gem variety, captivating gemologists and the public around the world with its vivid color and rarity.
Tiffany & Co., renowned for its elegance and innovation, introduced tanzanite to the global market in 1968, having famed designer Donald Claflin create the jewels featuring this now iconic gemstone. By incorporating tanzanite into luxurious high-end pieces of jewelry, Tiffany continued to blaze a path of innovation in both gemstone acquisitions and the best in jewelry design.
Through strategic branding and design, Tiffany & Co. transformed tanzanite from an obscure geological discovery into a symbol of sophistication and exclusivity—firmly establishing its place in the world of exquisite gemstones. Today, Tiffany still proudly features tanzanite in some of their most important jeweled creations, forever bonding the storied American firm with one of the greatest gemstone discoveries of the 20th century.
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For Max and Cecile Draime, collecting art was a practice driven by passion and personal connection. Throughout their elegant home, a diverse array of paintings and drawings were hung in intriguing configurations and conversations, complemented by table-top sculptures and framed prints. These were artworks that Max and Cecile loved, pieces that they found personally engaging and inspiring, which speak directly to their encyclopedic tastes.
A forward-thinking industrialist, Max was the founder of Stoneridge, building it from an operation with just five employees and a small factory in Orwell, Ohio, to a renowned global manufacturer, delivering essential components for automotive, agricultural and off-highway vehicles. Anticipating the shift towards electronic elements in vehicles, Max steered the company to diversify its offerings in the late 1980s, future-proofing Stoneridge and expanding its operations around the globe. Cecile was with him throughout the development of the company—having met while students at Kent State University, where Cecile and her twin sister Jean were well-known on campus for their musical talents, the pair married in 1959 and remained together for almost fifty years, until Max’s passing in 2006.
Throughout their life together, Max and Cecile were generous philanthropists. They were active benefactors of The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, not far from their home in Warren, northeastern Ohio, providing funds for the acquisition of historically important paintings, contributing towards the renovation of the museum’s buildings and new construction projects, and also purchasing and donating artworks directly to the collection. Max and Cecile were also firm supporters of their alma mater, Kent State University, funding several scholarships and projects over the years.
The Draimes began to build their art collection in earnest during the 1990s. As friends and family have noted, the couple loved art for its own sake, and did not set out with a proscribed program of acquisition in mind. Instead, each purchase was driven by instinct and Max and Cecile’s own personal reactions and connections to a piece. The Draimes were expansive in their interests, open to different styles, media and genres, and found great joy in discovering new artists. In many cases, this led Max and Cecile to make non-traditional acquisitions, choosing lesser-known artists who had yet to find a footing in the market, or looking to an underappreciated side of an established artist’s practice, uncovering hidden gems in the process.
In certain cases, artworks from their collection stood as a markers of important moments in their lives—Marc Chagall’s Les fiancés à l’ange rouge, for example, was purchased as an anniversary gift from Max to Cecile—while others record the places they travelled together, and the artists they encountered on their journey. The result is a highly personal, kaleidoscopic collection that features works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Pierre Soulages, Joan Miró, Jean Dubuffet, Wifredo Lam, Henri Le Sidaner, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Larry Rivers.
Max and Cecile’s passion for collecting special objects extended beyond the thoughtfully chosen art in their home, and this is evident in Cecile’s wonderfully curated jewelry collection. Having
established a strong relationship with the renowned jewelry house, Tiffany & Co., the Draimes acquired dazzling pieces directly from New York, Palm Beach and San Francisco Tiffany & Co. boutiques. With a focus on colorful gemstones and bright diamonds, Cecile’s collection highlights electric blue Paraiba tourmalines, vibrant orange garnets and the perfect shade of purplish blue that Tiffany & Co. tanzanite jewelry is known for. In addition to colorful gemstones, the lively collection showcases some of the houses most iconic diamond forward styles.
The Draimes’ abiding interest in art was complemented by a shared passion for gardening. Drawing inspiration from renowned gardens and estates around the world, Max and Cecile worked closely with the landscape artist James Gilmore to design a botanical oasis in Warren, installing specially constructed terraces, water features and follies that reshaped the landscape around their home, adding a carefully selected array of new plants to complement the old beeches, oaks and dogwoods on the property. “Our very first garden, when we were young, was about the size of our small living room rug,” Cecile remembered in an interview with Architectural Digest in 2007. “Despite its severe limitations, we decided to see just what we could make of it. We soon ran out of space. Now, with all the love and passion given over the years to our garden, look where it is.”
As with their home, the gardens were filled with art—while wandering through the extensive grounds, visitors could encounter monumental sculptures by Henry Moore, Fernando Botero, Lynn Chadwick, Clement Meadmore and Manolo Valdés, each piece thoughtfully chosen and precisely placed within the gardens. The interaction between these artworks and their carefully cultivated surroundings brought a new power and intrigue to the spaces they inhabited, giving the gardens “so much of their personality,” Cecile explained. As a result, the Draimes were diligent in their choice of sculpture, often spending extended periods of time hunting for the right work. The acquisition of Moore’s Reclining Figure, for example, was a purchase years in the making, with Max and Cecile searching tirelessly for an example of the British sculptor’s extensive oeuvre that they felt would best suit the garden and anchor their collection. The sculpture’s arrival and placement on the lower terrace of the Draime estate was marked by a great celebration, in which the couple hosted a concert and dinner for 400 guests in the grounds.
Christie’s is honored to present selections from The Max and Cecile Draime Collection across its sales in London, Paris and New York through the fall of 2025 and spring 2026. Together, these artworks stand as a testament to the dedication and passion of this remarkable couple, and are a tribute to Max and Cecile’s partnership and enduring love of art. Pieces from Cecile’s cherished jewelry collection will also be offered at auction in New York later this year.