Small Pleasures traces its roots to a tiny store opened on Cape Cod in the early seventies selling antique jewelry. After managing the store for several years, Shelley Hullar was offered a job at Christie's Auction House in New York City. It was there that she did her gemological studies and fine-tuned her interest in and knowledge of antique jewelry. She eventually became head of the jewelry department at Christie's East and was the first woman to be invited by the company to become an auctioneer.