BLING'S DA THING
Schechter helps bankers with liquidity woes
Mark Schechter is Wall Street’s pawnbroker of exclusive bling — and his business is booming.
Brokers, traders and financial tycoons are some of his superwealthy clients. And these highrollers are eager to exchange their rare, multimillion-dollar diamonds, Tiffany jewelry and Cartier watches for short-term loans of $2,500 to $1 million, or for quick cash when times are tough — especially when pink-slipped out of a hedge fund, or when a trade has gone seriously wrong.
Schechter is the founder and owner of Tustin, Calif.-based Ideal Luxury, a pawnshop for the rich and famous, and modeled as a “concierge” that buys and sells luxury goods — mostly diamonds, jewelry and watches — through private appointment at his nondescript office at Tustin Financial Plaza. The owner will also meet his clients anywhere, from Silicon Valley and Hollywood to the tony nabes of Greenwich, Conn., and the Hamptons on Long Island. Items for sale on his Web site recently included a $20,500 Rolex watch.
“We have a lot of financial services people out here, too, in Or- ange County who have the wherewithal to buy a $20,000 or an $80,000 set of diamond earrings,” Schechter, an imposing ironman triathlete, told The Post, describing some of the inquiries he fields.
Most of his clients are not desperate for cash, unlike some customers of more traditional pawn brokers. Peddling family heirlooms when the Social Security or welfare check runs out is not common at these stores.
Still, sometimes a fast infusion of cash is needed by the spouse of a wealthy banker splitting his estate after a nasty divorce, or when the bonus check falls short.
“Servicing your Range Rover or keeping the Country Club membership is expensive,” Schechter said.
Ideal Luxury is one of an emerging group of pawnshops catering to the ultrarich.
One recent study revealed how a customer at another upscale pawnshop secured a $1.2 million loan for a signed Monet; another pawned an Andy Warhol Mao print for $21,000. “I had people put silver bars on my desk,” Schechter said.
Schechter can also find deals for his clients .
“I might have clients who want to buy a nice $3 million pink dia- mond ring,” Schechter said. “I will get them that same diamond ring for say, $1 million or $2 million, save them a million dollars, and still make a profit. It is a beautiful thing.”
Some of the nation’s other 11,000 pawnshops certainly fit the stereotype. Customers are often in dire financial straits. The average loan amount is $150. The average household income for a US pawnshop customer is $29,000, according the Web site Pawn Shops Today.
The average income of Schech- ter’s clients can only be guessed. But listening to the owner, his are the jetsetting types with multiple homes in posh ZIP codes, exotic car collections and a retinue of servants.
“One of the most valuable things about Mark is that he is so professional, and he likes to build strong relationships,” one of his Wall Street clients told The Post. “I value his opinion on select items like diamonds,” added that client, a commodities trader out of New York, who did not want his name revealed.
This Wall Street trader has seen colleagues ride the market’s highs and lows, up millions one day, downs millions the next.
“Mark hasn’t shared the stats with me, but I know some on Wall Street have gone to Mark for a short-term loan when they are stretched thin,” he said. “These people, and especially celebrities, worry about their privacy — and they are assured of privacy when they do business with Mark, who will also treat them fairly.”
Schechter admits he has seen the big shots rise and fall — and then rise again.
“I am not kidding you, in the same 12 month calendar, I will have someone buy and then borrow back the same item from me,” he said.