Collecting 101 with Donna Schneier: Andrea Kline Proposes Art Heals

Devastated by the loss of her husband, Andrea Kline did not allow that event to change her life forever. She kept her home filled with a lifetime of treasures, reached out to the Boca Raton community to join the boards of the Boca Museum, Animal Rescue, and The Studio at Mizner Park, a theater group.

Kline continued to collect fine and art jewelry, and high-end costume jewelry. Those objects elevated her mood, reduced stress levels and helped her heal.

Andrea Kline Talks Collecting

Why did you start to collect?

My grandmother wore a lot of beautiful fine jewelry. She inspired me to have a passion for adornment and decoration. As a teenager in the ’60s in center city Philadelphia, I scoured the antique and resale shops on Pine Street the antique center in Philadelphia for Art Deco, Art Deco Jewelry and Bakelite (a ’30s form of Plastic jewelry). In the ’70s I opened an antique shop on Pine Street where my partner and I sold bumper cars and carousel horses which we purchased from a shuttered Palisades, New Jersey amusement park. Later on, I became a silversmith. I am now a retired silversmith.

What have you collected?

Many different mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics, glass, video art and miniature contemporary houses. I commissioned the houses.

Do you have a favorite work?

An entire wall by the artist Jacob Hashimoto which I commissioned at Art Basel Miami Beach.

What would you like to tell me about collecting today?

It has changed and is not as easy as it used to be. There are still some antique and resale shops in NYC and Europe but most collecting is done online today at auctions and selling sites like 1stDibs.

Since they are widely advertised, there is greater competition for the object and its price.

And where do you keep everything?

I gave up my NYC apartment. Everything is now installed in my Boca home. (Editors note: It is a really large house.)