Peek of Perfection: Field Report: The Tom Cary Collection

29 January 2012

Field Report: The Tom Cary Collection

It all started in the Summer of 2011 in one of my favorite shops in the world, The Seven Seas, on the very special island of Nantucket. I was visiting for a full two weeks, a luxury that I was only able to take full advantage of last year for the first time.

Since I now live in California, far from old friends and family, I had waves of guests coming out to visit and stay with me, and as each of them passed through the island, I took them to my favorite spot. After more than a few weekly visits, I got to know Mike Thom, Vanessa Noel's Executive Assistant, who was taking care of her shop for the summer. We kept in touch and met for a drink in Connecticut over the holidays when I was home for Christmas. It was there that the story of Tom Cary and his famous collection of rare books and collectibles came to life. After hearing about his collection, I realized it was his love of quality, rare and vintage finds that I loved so much about The Seven Seas. I just had to meet him.

I was in New York for work earlier this month, and Mike was gracious enough to set up a meeting. But not just any meeting- a private tour of his Upper East Side apartment-turned-gallery! I brought my friend Anne with me and we embarked on what became a peek into the fabulous, rare and vintage world of Thomas Cary.

The first thing you notice when you walk into his shop is the breadth of collectibles he has- I felt like a kid in a candy shop! Once you explore a little more, you notice that it's not just a collection of 'stuff' either, the quality and detail of each object cannot be overlooked.

Tom has a background in fashion at Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart, which helps to explain the preppy aesthetic that runs through the space. What I really loved about the tour was the colorful commentary he provided as we walked through- there is a story about how he personally found each piece and the history of it- what makes it special, rare, who owned it before he did- he knows it all. It's not hard to see why the likes of Kate Spade, Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren all shop here to decorate their retail stores.

Surprisingly, Tom doesn't have a emotional attachment to too many of his pieces (I found this hard to understand considering I was only a passerby and felt a sense of separation anxiety when it was time to leave). But before we ended our day, we went to a lovely lunch a Swifty's, an Upper East Side restaurant at its best, and checked out some of his pieces for sale at William-Wayne & Co around the corner. It was a truly special afternoon that I'll not soon forget. Although we didn't buy anything that day, we didn't walk away empty handed- not with 'Uncle Tom' as our new friend! Looking forward to another visit on my next trip to New York- it's simply a stop that cannot be missed.

Be sure to check out some of what Tom sells here, take a look at his fab new Tumblr site here, and email him here!