At the turn of the last century, journalist Serena Kutchinsky’s great-great grandparents were sold a bill of goods. Instead of purchasing passage to the goldene medina—the golden land of the United States — their escape from their Polish shtetl was cut short in London. Too poor to continue on, they settled in London’s East End, home to thousands of other Russian and Eastern European Jews. Soon, the Polish Jewish Kuczynski family became the Anglicized Kutchinskys.
Kutchinsky’s great-great grandfather Hersh may have been the patriarch of the family, but his wife, Leah, had the foresight to hide jewelry in the hems of her clothes. When the family arrived in London, they had goods to barter. After much hard work, a jewelry empire was born.
Serena Kutchinsky tells her family’s rags-to-riches-to-rags story in Kutchinsky’s Egg: A Family’s Story of Obsession, Love, and Loss, while also illustrating the history of the British jewelry industry that began with poor Jewish immigrants in London’s East End.
Each generation of her family fared better than the previous one until Kutchinsky’s father, Paul, convinced himself that he could create a giant jeweled egg to rival the most extravagant Fabergé egg. If the Kutchinsky name is not a familiar one, it’s because Paul’s two-foot gold and diamond-encrusted egg brought ruin to himself and to the hundred year-old family business that had once rivaled Cartier. Paul was certainly ambitious, but he always felt that his Jewish background kept his family business from reaching the caliber of the most sought-after French and Swiss jewelers and watchmakers. Judaism is a strong thread throughout the story — although the Kutchinskys were not observant, they never forgot their Jewish roots. When Paul wanted to marry a Scottish Christian woman — Kutchinsky’s mother — it caused quite a commotion in the family.
The book reads like a serial television drama, especially during the main part of the story that takes place in the 1980s, a time in London characterized by polo matches, sports cars, and luxury goods — including Kutchinsky jewelry. Familiar names like Princess Diana, now-King Charles, and even Donald Trump float through the latter part of the story, but not in a boastful way. It was just the world Kutchinsky’s parents and grandparents inhabited.
Kutchinsky’s background in journalism shines through her pages, especially in the seamless way she recounts the history of London’s East End and the central mystery of the book: whatever happened to Paul’s egg? Although most of the story takes place decades ago, the publication of the book could not be more timely. As British Jews experience increased rates of antisemitism, the likes of which have not been seen in decades, stories like Kutchinsky’s are important because they show how much this community — especially with its beginnings in the East End — has contributed to Great Britain’s culture and economy throughout the modern era.
Susan Blumberg-Kason is a memoirist and biographer and co-editor of an anthology set in Hong Kong. She is a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books and World Literature Today. She became interested in 1930s Shanghai when she was in the city in the mid-1990s for her thesis research. Susan now lives with her family in the Chicago suburbs.
