New York, NY 10015

A new exhibit will display the jewelry – and specifically the brooches – of Madeleine Albright, the former US Secretary of State.  The jewelry exhibit, which is called "Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection" will open in September at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.  The jewelry collection will include 200 of Albright`s favorite brooches.

Albright, a renowned negotiator, became famous for communicating messages through her choice of pins.

"She started acquiring pins because of their inherent messages, their whimsical and pictorial quality," said David Revere McFadden, the museum`s chief curator, in a statement to the Associated Press.  "It`s not about jewels and gems, it`s about jewelry as a communication device." 

The pin collection ranges from the golden snake pin Albright wore after Saddam Hussein`s government called her a serpent to the dove pin that was given to her by Leah Rabin, the wife of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.  According to the curators, Albright`s brooch collection includes everything from Americana-style jewelry to brooches designed with the themes of flora, fauna, and insects.  She even had a pin that had two watch faces (one of which was upside down) that allowed her and others to check the time.

According to the curators, the jewelry collection isn`t particularly valuable in itself, as many of the pins are inexpensive or mass-produced.  The exhibition will travel to several cities and will run until January 2010.