The Marina Collier is among the pieces currently housed at The Peninsula Beverly Hills. (photo courtesy of McKinney’s Jewellers)

Margot McKinney – or at least her jewelry – has a new permanent home at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.

“We feel that The Peninsula really aligned so well with our family values and the way that we like to provide exceptional service for our customers and collectors,” McKinney said during a week-long visit to launch the store.

The McKinney family has been in the business of crafting jewelry since 1884, and the boutique showcases some of the brand’s most significant creations. Among them is what those in the industry refer to as a “masterpiece.”

Straight from its appearance at the The European Fine Art Fair, the Mariana Collier evokes the Great Barrier Reef, with 29 Australian South Sea baroque pearls, green beryl, aquamarines, tourmalines, sapphires, diamonds, tsavorites and paraibas, all set in 18-karat gold. McKinney said its value is, “a little bit of change from $2 million.”

The store includes fine crafted pieces of all styles – from necklaces to bracelets to earrings. Coral inspiration extends to many of the products, with hues of purple, green and pink predominant. Pearls that accentuate much of the jewelry are particularly unique.

“The only place in the world where the Pinctada maxima oyster grows is Australia, and that’s why the only place in the world that a white pearl that’s bigger than a garden pea has to come from Australia,” McKinney explained.

The jewelry maven is intricately involved with the entire pearl farming process.

“When we open the oyster to harvest the pearl – and that happens after two years – we don’t know what’s going to be there. It’s a great surprise. So, I try to go to the pearl farm for the harvest as often as I can and watch as each of these pearls come out of the oyster. It’s an amazing experience,” she said.

McKinney said that an oyster can produce as many as five pearls during its lifetime.

“It’s a very caring industry. It’s environmentally sustainable, and there’s a lot of care put into the nurturing of the oyster. Pearls are the only gems that come from a living organism,” she said.

McKinney’s company uses the only independently owned pearl farm in Australia, which has also been operating since the 1880s.

“Our business is about relationships,” she said, further explaining that McKinney’s also uses a fifth-generation opal miner. “It’s when people know the story behind a piece of jewelry that it comes to life. It’s not just something in a cabinet. It has a history. It has meaning. People’s lives have gone into creating that piece of jewelry.”

McKinney has had a long relationship with The Peninsula, using it as her base of operations when doing business in Beverly Hills. Two decades ago, she began a partnership with Neiman Marcus – and later Bergdorf Goodman. When it came time to set up a permanent shop, it only made sense to put it inside The Peninsula.

“There isn’t anywhere to buy Australian pearls in the whole of Los Angeles,” McKinney said. “It’s a market that hasn’t been very well served.”

Margot McKinney’s shop is located just off the lobby of The Peninsula, 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd. For information and inventory, visit margotmckinney.com.