George W. Headley

George William Headley III (January 8, 1908 – February 7, 1985) was an American jewelry designer, collector, socialite and founder of the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky. As a designer, he was known for collaborations with Salvador Dalí, Paul Flato, David Webb and Cartier, between the 1920s and 1960s, with clients including Douglas Fairbanks, Gary Cooper, the Marx Brothers, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford, as well as for his extravagant bibelots - small, intricate and precious decorative objects.

Biography George William Headley III was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on January 8, 1908, to Louise and George Headley Jr., a wealthy family which moved to Mississippi soon after his birth. In 1960, he married Barbara Whitney Henry Peck (died 1982), sister to Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney (died 1992), and daughter of sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (died 1942), founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. After a nineteen-year career in New York and Los Angeles, he moved to his Lexington, Kentucky family farm La Belle in 1949, where he died in 1985, two years after his wife. With a second home in Palm Beach, Florida, the couple were well known as traveling and entertaining socialites. The La Belle grounds became the Headley-Whitney Museum.

Headley described two of his pieces to the Palm Beach Daily News: "The idea of making a Swiss carving of a walnut came to me in the middle of the night. I drew two gold diamond canaries building a nest, and three diamond butterflies. By cutting the walnut in half and hollowing it out, I had space for a nest. When it opens one can see several tiny turquoise eggs." The Jewel Room was built to display his collection of jewelry and bibelots, and is designed to evoke the feeling of a jewelry box with its dark enclosed interior. Both rooms are littered with Headley's collection of natural curios, specimens, objects, and art collected during his travels abroad. A former three car garage was transformed into a shell grotto, with coral floors, mosaic ceilings and walls covered in shells and polished stones.

The museum continues to be a popular attraction in the Lexington area. In the early days of the museum, Headley himself offered guided tours of his Jewel Room and Library.