Fred Leighton, Madison Avenue jeweler to the stars and those with star-sized wallets, is a retailing phenomenon. In the 1970s, when he was known as Murray Mondschien, he hawked Mexican wedding dresses from a folksy shop in Greenwich Village. By the end of the decade, he had moved uptown and begun selling antique jewelry, creating a retail market for baubles formerly traded only in the 47th Street jewelry district. Estate jewelry was then considered demode, about as sexy as someone’s grandmother.

Those days are over. Today the name Fred Leighton (Murray changed his name around the time he changed businesses) is associated with the opulent jewels he lends to movie stars at Oscar time and sells to royal families and the merely rich. Glossy photo spreads in Vogue and W show slinky models dripping in diamonds courtesy of Fred Leighton. Today 29 pieces from Mr. Leighton’s

own personal collection jewels go on view at Christie’s.

Billed as “Jewels of Style: The Personal Collection of Fred Leighton,” the trove will be auctioned next Tuesday, October 12, as a special section of Christie’s “Magnificent Jewels” sale. This is a celebrity sale twice over: The pieces have the Leighton cachet as well as provenances that include more than a few famous women. Diana Vreeland’s deco cuff bangle; Josephine Baker’s silver cigarette case; an 1855 diamond brooch owned both by Napoleon’s niece, Princess Mathilde, and later by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt; and the wedding bands Brigitte Bardot received from movie director Roger Vadim are all part of the sale.

“It’s just some funny things I bought over the years,” Mr. Leighton said yesterday, sitting in a black lacquer Deco-inspired viewing room at his shop. “It’s collectible things.”

He says he is selling this group because he loves buying. “If you’re in the business,” said Leighton, flashing a pair of gold and diamond owl cufflinks, “you have to sell.” There is a second retail shop at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and Leighton has expanded his business and makes new jewelry which he sells alongside the antique.

And sell he is. After all these years in the business, Mr. Leighton is not only auctioning off a small chunk of his inventory, he is selling his company. The deal is underway, Mr. Leighton says, and will be finalized by the beginning of 2005. Right now the buyer is conducting due diligence. Because the deal is still in play, Mr. Leighton won’t reveal the buyer, other than to say they are a large public company who will franchise the Leighton name.

Rumors about Mr. Leighton’s impending sale have been circulating in the jewelry business for a least a year, and Christie’s jewelry department is well aware of Leighton’s plans.

When Mr. Leighton started up in the 1970s, antique jewelry was often broken apart for parts. Taste dictated that old stones be reset in modern designs. Stores like Neiman Marcus wouldn’t touch the stuff. And there was little appreciation for the designs of yesteryear.

“He was the first one to bring antique and estate jewelry to the public eye and make it glamorous,” said antique jewelry dealer Malcolm Logan of Portland, Maine-based Nelson Rarities. “He brought it to a different level, not just something to keep in the safety deposit vault.”

When Mr. Leighton began selling, he filled his shop with whatever attracted his eye. Unschooled in gemology and jewelry history, he bought mostly on intuition. “I have a nose,” Mr. Leighton said. “I buy everything with a nose.” In addition to the strong machine-age designs of Art Deco and the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau, he was attracted to the delicate settings from the 19th century and the colorful enamel and gemstones of Mughal India. Bold design was Mr. Leighton’s mantra.

“My father put a value on the artist’s signature, instead of taking the pieces apart,” said Mr. Leighton’s daughter and partner. “It sounds ridiculous now, but it was as though people were buying Picassos merely for the paint.”

Then as now Mr. Leighton stands out in the jewelry business. The store itself reflects a unique sensibility. The corner location on Madison and 66th Street is crammed with cases filled with hundreds of pieces, organized by period and stone color. The effect is overwhelming, like a flea market for millionaires; last Christmas, a dancing Santa Claus was decked out in jewels. But of all the remarkable curiosities packed into the store, the one that really stands out is Murray himself.

He lives above the shop and is an unrequited workaholic. Unlike Harry Winston, Cartier, or other high-end, corporate-owned stores, he does not strive for an aura of exclusivity, with buttoned-up sales staff, posh salons, or intimidating displays of million dollar diamonds. “Babe” is his preferred term for visitors to the shop, and he is the only man in the trade who leaves a necktie at home.

Mr. Leighton refuses to suck up to his rich, important clients, and they love him for it. As the legend goes, when the King of Morocco [check] was expected to come shopping at the store, Mr. Leighton was briefed on the proper protocol. When the king appeared, Mr. Leighton called out “Hey King” – appalling the royal entourage but evidently endearing himself to his highness.

“Murray just had that fantastic human instinct for people,” said Ralph Esmerian, a fourth-generation gem dealer who met Mr. Leighton early on and recognized his talents. “Whether he was selling shoe laces or wine bottles or jewelry, you had that sense of credibility.” Mr. Esmerian, an early believer, gave Mr. Leighton jewelry “on memo,” or on consignment, to sell.

After three decades in the business, Mr. Leighton has more than succeeded in bringing estate jewelry into the mainstream. In fact, it has become difficult to find quality estate and antique jewelry. Older jewelry has better construction and better stones than much newer inventory. In recent times, some colored stones have undergone a heat-treatment process to pump up their color – like steroids for jewels. It’s safer to stick with the vintage.

For these reasons, expect prices at the Christie’s auction to shoot well above the very conservative estimates. After touring Geneva, Monaco, and Los Angeles, the show is now at Rockefeller Center. Highlights include a pair of 1930 Maltese Cross gold and gem-set brooches designed by Coco Chanel and produced by Fulco di Verdura (est. $80,000-$120,000), which Mr. Leighton bought from Vreeland. A collection of Art Deco jewelry by French designer Suzanne Belperron, once owned by the Duchess of Windsor, is also sure to ignite bidding wars. The ear clips (est. $30,000-$40,000), necklace (est. $100,000-$150,000), and bangle bracelets (est. $70,000-$100,000) last traded at a 1987 sale at Sotheby’s in Geneva of jewels from the duchess’s collection.

“Belperron is the hot jeweler right now in the U.S.” said Christie’s senior jewelry specialist, Nicholas Luchsinger. These pieces, all made from a smoky blue semiprecious stone called chalcedony, are expected to bring record prices.