A Bit of Jewelry History
Dateyyyy-mm-dd
file numbermarcus-history-005
abstractHistory of Marcus & Co., from founding to present.
A bit of Jewelry history
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Near the end of the 19th century, in the time of the clipper ships and the gold
coast, the era of Lillian Russell, the
gas lit, Victorian and red plush, the days of the handle bar mustache and
tandem bicycles, women wore high button shoes and leg of mutton sleeves,
starched petticoats, and as much jewelry as the men who loved them could
afford to give. It was an era too, of merchant princes, and one of these,
William Elder Marcus, royal
jeweler to the German court, emigrated to the United States to become
associated with Tiffany & Co. Later, he
founded the firm of Marcus & Co. He
was a born craftsman, born to his craft, he loved and lived for jewels and
spent most of his life in the search for the ultimate.
Members of the firm traveled to the far corners of the earth, to the great
bazaars of Cairo, where precious stones were displayed on lustrous velvet
and brilliant silks, to the Persian Gulf
where native divers gathered the softly hued pearls for his
inspection, on to Bombay where richly
carved boxes, redolent of sandlewood and myrrh, held cool and sparkling
sapphires, emeralds of burning green, and so to the great jewelry markets
of Delhi where bearded and turbaned
merchants displayed star sapphires and black opals for Marcus' approval and choice.
The Indian steel magnate, Sir Dorab Ta-Ta
introduced Marcus to a Persian jewel
merchant in Bombay. Until this time, the
great pearl houses of India were closed to all but Maharajahs and princes.
Here, through this introduction, Marcus made the largest individual
purchase of pearls ever made. So keen was his eye, so exhaustive his
search, that in Agra, India, he found the
flawless mate to the one huge pear-shaped pearl he had bought 1500 miles
away in Bombay.
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The story of the Jonker diamonds is legendary, what is not generally known, is that
Marcus & Co. were one of the very few
jewelers to offer for sale to the public, one of the 12 diamonds into which
the Jonker was divided.
His clientele was the social register. Individual pieces were designed, and
never reproduced. Lillian Russell was
the first woman to own a crysanthemum pearl and diamond pin. Marcus made
it, his library of designs filled 25 books. When the elite left the city to
escape the heat of the summer, moving to Bar Harbor, South- hampton,
Scotland or the Riviera, Marcus & Co. were
entrusted with their jewels to store until they returned. He introduced an
appraisal service and bought old jewelry and diamonds outright.
And so the years passed, from the Golden era of the nineties, through World War
I, across the roaring 20's, and weathering the depession to the threshold
of World War II,
Marcus & Co. flourished like the proverbial green
bay tree.
Then, in 1942, looking well into the future, and
realizing that an era had passed,
Mr. Gimble, Mr. Ray
Kramer of the Board, (who had made frequent visits to
Marcus) and Mr. William Gorman, all
super salesmen, sold the idea to the head of Marcus &
Co. of moving this swank jewelry shop to Gimbels. The idea being Fifth Avenue jewels at
Gimbels Fifth Floor prices! There was much
speculation as to the success or failure of such a move; would the public
go to the fifth floor of a department store to buy fine jewelry? And so the
decision was reached and the plans made.
For days the actual moving of the $000 worth of jewelery was plotted, every item
in the huge inventory was catalogued, photographed, and packaged in
numerical order. Wall
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cases, fixtures, show cases, and then the armored trucks started rolling. The
heavily guarded stock of jewels was on its way to Gimbels. All day Saturday, all day Sunday, the crew of
carpenters and display men, electricians etc., worked to set up the Fifth
Avenue shop as it looked on Fifth Av enue.
And on Monday morning, complete in every detail, the Marcus Co. store was opened on the fifth floor at Gimbels,
all of the jewelry, all of the service, the designing, every- t hing and
everyone, right up to the head of Marcus Co.
who still heads this department. (leave out E. G. name).
Then how to tell the public that Marcus had
moved to Gimbels, how to enforce at once, this new policy of Fifth Avenue jewels at Gimbels' prices. A full page ad in the New York Times and Herald Tribune
told the country that Marcus & Co .
million dollar jewelry stock was being sold at an average of 50%
off. A $1675 bracelet of diamonds was offered at $975, a $3500 pearl
necklace was tagged $695, fiery black opal rings from an Australian mine
now extinct were offered. Hand painted crystal cuff links, cut by hand by
the English Crystal king of the world, pear shaped oriental pearl earrings,
originally $25,000 to be sold for $3985, and the public came to gasp, look, and
buy. That was the day when 3 women almost came to fisticuffs over the same
diamond bracelet which each one wanted. When the day was over, the
salespeople groggy,
Gimbel's management amazed, the tills were
brimming with cash and checks. Surely,
Marcus on Fifth Avenue had never seen anything like this.
But one swallow doesn't make a summer and neither does one sale assure success,
but
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success begets success, and soon manufacturers and banks were asking Marcus to liquidate their stock and
estates.
Among these was the Baskin Brothers sale of
diamond solitaires. $000 stock at 000% off! When Baskin was offered the post as executive head of a steel
corporation, he called the head of Marcus Co.
whom he met, and while in a taxi, the entire inventory deal was
consummated. Marcus sold his entire jewelry
stock. When Ostby & Barton, oldest
manufacturer of rings in the United States converted to defense instruments,
Marcus liquidated the business.
There was the Temple stock, the Udall and Ballou, the H. Healy stock. When Healy
of Brooklyn, who had said he would retire after 75 years in
business, reached the age of 88, of all the stores in the country he chose
Marcus to sell to. The Sickles Company of Philadelphia, makers of Rhapsody
rings, $000 stock aat 000% off! In the Paul Flato
stock, a topaz necklace worth $7000 was sold to a Philadelphia
banker for $1375. The French jeweler who brought his stock to Gimbels to
convert into American dollars. Only last month, America's largest
manufacturer of precious jewelry and diamond watches reorganized - and
again came first to Marcus. The Briggs
estate with a 12 carat marquise diamond at $28,000.
And has the old personal touch of the original Marcus
been lost, have the services he offered been by-passed in favor
of mass selling and commercial convential jewelry? No! Marcus has retained all of the old featuresand
service, the individual designing, the gorgeous new jewelry, the remodeling
of old jewelry, the appraisal department... and added many new
features.
Old jewelry may be exchanged for new.... almost like Alladin's lamp...a Tiffany or
Cartier, Rubel
or other f amous named jewels may be bought at a fraction of
their original or replacement cost.
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There is the Brokerage Department or left-for-sale, where a customer may
leave her jewelry tagged with the price she wants to get for it. It remains
in the show case for her to see at any time, and when sold she gets the
price she wanted, less 18% which is the fee for selling, and which includes
the cost of advertising it and the insurance. The buying and selling
departments are knows as Marcus Jewel Galleries
, a name which is registered in the U. S.
Patent Office. There is a large work shop where customers
may see their jewelry being made, their diamonds set while they wait, a complete
shop where jewelry is made from the raw material to the finished
product.
One of the diamond setters has taught many men who have since become experts
also. Today Marcus Jewel Galleries
imports watch movements and cases them, they import diamonds and mountings,
they polish jewels, they have one of the largest if not the largest,
apprisal departments in the country.
An antique jewelry department with such a wide reputation that jewelers and
owners of antique shops as well as collectors come to Marcus Jewel Galleries over and over again to
purchase unusual jewelry at below market prices. The antiques range from that of
Josephine, to royal families and trifles
from a New England attic. Today Marcus Jewel Galleries buyers fly to Europe
searching for treasures to add to their stock of modern and antique
jewelry.
What the buyers don't find, usually comes to Marcus Jewel
Galleries and a new owner by many and diverse routes. Not
only the fabulous jewels, but antiques of mosaic, enamel and filagree, sold
to Marcus Jewel Galleries by individuals, by
estates, by banks.
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Each piece has a story, some are in their original but worn boxes, the
owner's initials as well as the name of a once famous, now perhaps long
since forgotten jeweler stamped on the inside cover.
It is not at all unusual to see in a display case, a fabulous 40 carat emerald
cut diamond ring, flanked on one side by a 17th century pin for $79, on the other, a baby's solid gold rattle.
From all over come the pieces, and from all over, come the buyers.
Marcus Jewel Galleries seems to be the cross
roads of the world, not only the jewelry which gathers there, but the
customers.
A Chinese who bought $26,000 worth of jewelry for export. A French dealer and
his wife, overheard speaking in French: "Cheaper than we sell in Paris."
The Brazilian who bought 4 pieces of jewelry to take back to South America,
feeling assuered he could buy better here.
The public bring their problems to our "Mr. Anthony", such as the woman wearing
a ring which had been on her finger for 50 years. Because it was stopping
circulation, her physician ordered it removed, but she was adamant in her
refusal to take it off, saying she vowed never to remove it. Marcus Jewel Galleries experts solved this
problem. First, the band was cut with a jeweler's tiny, circular saw, the
band was spread, but still on her finger, then a hollow gold sleeve was
snugly fitted to envelope the open ends of the ring, and the job done
without taking if off. Then there was a customer who had a ring which he
wanted to wear over or under a glove. The back of the ring was split and
spread, part was drilled hollow, then an expansion spring concealed in the
hollow... another problem solved
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Today, the appraisal service and buying service originally conducted at the
Fifth Avenue store as a service to insurance companies and their clients,
is recognized as one of the outstanding in the country.
During World War II, Marcus Jewel Galleries
believed to be one of the first, set up booths in collaboration with the
Treasury Department, to convert old
jewelry into cash to buy war bonds on the spot. War Bond workers supplied
by the Treasury Depart-ment worked
frantically all day to handle the crowds.
Buying old jewelry is almost always a happy experience. Such as the time a
woman brought in a pair of gold ball earrings to sell. They had been handed
down to her and she didn't wear them. The appraiser examined the earrings,
and found that they were old indeed, and once had been knows as night
earrings, actually miniature safes, because when a concealed hinge was
pressed, the ball opened to reveal a large diamond hidden w ithin. The
customer was delighted with the discovery, and the amount of money she
received for them.
One of our appraisal experts, Mr. Bronson,
started his career as a diamond setter at the age of 15. At 20 he assisted
in the purchase of the Lucky Baldwin Estate,
part of which was the famous 25 carat ruby which later was sold to
William Randolph Hearst for
$200,000. A few years later, when the Jonker diamond in its rough state came to
his hands, he marked it to show how it should be cleaved. To this day he
maintains it is the finest stone he ever handled, because its purity of
color was such, that the diamond actually seemed invisible when put in a
glass of water. He likes to recall the thrill of purchasing a famous set of
buttons, studded with rose cut diamonds ranging from 3 to 15 carats which
was worn by the Arch Duke Joseph of Austria
in the 17th century on a ceremonial robe. The set later was purchased by Col. E. H. R. Green
.
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During Mr. Bronson's career as an appraiser,
he has seen every type of diamond known, black, red, green, and every type
of ruby, sapphire and emerald.
Another appraiser, Mr. Manziano, had his
first taste of jewelry at New York University
where he studied gemology. After working with gems, appraising,
sorting, and all of the attendant strain that goes with it, training
trotting horses relieves the t ension.
Mr. Manziano not only trains horses but
breeds them as well, and his horses have been in the Hambletonian, won
races at Roosevelt Raceway, Saratoga, and he is particularly proud of King
Majesty, the only horse of his color racing today. A snow white trotter
with spots and undertones of almost every color in the rainbow.
Mr. Siegel has had years of experience as an
appraiser. Commencing as a boy he later worked with the largest colored
stone house in the country. Part of his knowledge came with helping to
choose the colored stones which were used in the Diamond Jim Brady
collection. It included all types of locomotives, made with jewels of every
color and shape, a walking cane with a large star sapphire, a jeweled eye
glass case, pens and pencils, and dozens of full dress sets. Mr. Siegel spent many hours with Diamond Jim while he personally checked on the
selection of jewels which were to be used.
Mr. Van Slochem, Marcus Jewel Galleries manager, is a jeweler almost by
birth. He was born in Amsterdam, the
heart of the diamond industry. Not only was his father a diamond cutter,
but his mother was a diamond cleaver, one of the most difficult tasks in
all of the jewelry industry, because one false move could ruin a fortune.
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In the 1890's the Van
Slochem family came to America
and settled in New Jersey
, where they opened the first diamond cutting factory in the
United States, Mr. Van Slochem is
recognized as an outstanding authority on watches and has served railroad
and government officials in special order work.
Whether it is new or old jewelry, a gold crystal umbrella handle with
a rim of matched rubies, a diamond necklace with a 10 carat pear shaped
drop, a suspender and garter set with solid gold parts and matching gold
ornamented wallet, a $2 scarf pin to convert to a charm on a bracelet,
people from all walks of life realize that jewelry is not only for
adornment, but also an investment, and they come to Marcus Jewel Galleries. A rancher from Texas, a vice president of an oil company, a star
from Hollywood, a girl from main
street, the truck driver, or the chauffer driven society matron, they come
to find and buy the jewelry they have always wanted, or to dispose of the
jewelry they have no need for. Sometimes they sell their old, use the money to
buy new.
Marcus Jewel Galleries like a diamond has many
facets. The designing and made to order jewelry. Individually designed to
reflect the personality of the wearer. Customers bring in their assortment
of old jewelry, rings, bar pins, earrings, loose stones, sometime wrapped
in handkerchiefs, bits of tissue paper, in chamois bags, or in jewel cases,
old fashioned jewelry kept for sentiment's sake but actually not wearable.
The designer advises on what can be done, capturing the desires of the customer,
or suggesting a design. An approximate cost is estimated, and then the
designer goes to work. Several sketches are submitted, one approved, and
the work is started.
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But not all jewelry is imported, not all is made on the premises, choice items
are bought from leading manufacturers, and a common expression heard on the
fifth floor very frequently: "I saw this on Fifth
Avenue, what price can I get it for here at Gimbels?"
Marcus Jewel Galleries endeavors to stress how
much it can save the customer by adopting the best means possible to reduce
the cost. What isn't manufacturered by
Marcus Jewel Galleries they have
manufacturered for them, setting their own stones and diamonds in their own
shop, thus cutting down the cost, because the diamonds and other stones are
imported direct and at a savings, and the setters cost is saved as well.
They import pearls from Japan, cultured
pearls so fine inquality that often they have to be put through an x
raymachine to determine whether they are wild or cultured - even experts
cannot tell.
Marcus Jewel Galleries buys black opals from
Australia, jewelry from France, diamonds from Belgium.
We like to recall some of the pleasant little anecdotes which make up a day at
the fifth floor. For example, the gentlemen who in appreciation , visits
Marcus every year to buy a perfect
diamond for each executive who has been with his firm for 20 years.
Mr. Kantor who serves him always looks
forward to these visits.
There is the story of the man who wanted to buy a large diamond but at the time
could not afford it. Nor did he want to wait until he could. He was told
that he could purchase it on the budget plan or at any time he chose, he
could return the ring, get full credit toward a larger one, and today the
original $200 purchase has been parlayed into a lovely large ring at
$13,500, the customer making exchanges at full credit over a period of
time.
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In the mail one morning was a post card addressed to Marcus Jewel Galleries. On the reverse side was an order
for a $4500 diamond ring. The order was filled, and an acknowledgement of
it was received expressing satisfaction both with the ring and the
service.
A doctor from Buffalo made 4 separate
trips to shop all of New York for a
particular piece of jewelry... and was delighted when he finally found just
what he wanted at the fifth floor.
One of the salesmen likes to tell the story of the man who wanted a pair of
earrings, but couldn't find a pair to suit; he said he would wait a year if
necessary, but preferred not to. Fortunately a customer came in shortly
after to sell a pair of earrings, and the first customer bought them -
exactly what he had been looking for - and he didn't have to wait a
year.
The wife of one of the heads of a large soap company stopped in one day for a
few little trinkets and bought 2 diamond bracelets... not in the trinket
class.
The fickle customer who buys, wers for a time, grows tired of her jewelry and
sells it, repeating the buying, wearing, tiring and selling process over
and over again. (We have not yet met her husband).
The member of the police force in a distant city - his son living in New York selected an engagement ring at
Marcus Jewel Galleries and then had his
father come on to New York to approve
the girl and the ring.
A well known jeweler who sent his wife to Marcus Jewel
Galleries to buy some jewelry.
The customer who has a young girl wore nothing but antique jewelry, now grown
older
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has sold it all to buy modern pieces.
Customers buying diamonds are told the factors which are important in buying
a stone. That one important point, is color. The customer may take a
diamond right to the window to see the true color in daylight.
Of course not everything has always been beer and skittles, and in the early
days of the fifth floor, there were some never to be forgotten nightmares.
One morning, the head of the department (E. G. ) arrived early in
anticipation of a big day following an advertisement offering a large
assortment of jewelry at a fraction of its cost. And was dismayed to find
that it was impossible to get to the diamond counters because they had been
pushed into a stockade which encompassed the departments, the stockade a
maze which led to a hastily prepared counter selling hard-to-get hams. (All
this happened to a guy who doesn't eat ham).
But those days have gone into the limbo of the past, and today Marcus Jewel Galleries strives to keep the
best merchandise and at the greatest savings. The endeavor to stress
thatthey can save the customer money by adopting the best possible means to
reduce the cost.
It seems fitting to mention here, some of the people who are associated with the
head of Marcus Jewel Galleries. One, the
principal buyer, entered the jewelry field after finishing high school at
the age of 16. Working with the head of the department, he first learned to
grade melee(small diamonds that sometimes run 300 to a carat). Now, 19
years later, Clifton Stetson is recognized
as one of the outstanding diamond men in the industry. His hobby -
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developing a quartet with his two small children and his wife - all of whom have
beautiful singing voices.
Another assistant and buyer, Philip Stetson,
a graduate of the American Gemological Society
who left his position as assistant to the advertising manager of a
large department store to enter the jewelry field. He is an active church
worker, superindentant of a Sunday School and is presently engaged in
raising funds to build a parish house for the church.
Burton Elliott, assistant buyer, is
presently in Europe visiting Antwerp, Holland
, France,
England and Italy
, retracing the footsteps of his father, calling at the old firms
while developing new sources, stopping at Antwerp's
Diamond Club where his father was once thought to be the
youngest member. History is repeating itself as he shops Europe as his father did before him.
And what of the man who heads Marcus Jewel Galleries
, preferring that his name not be mentioned, he lives breathes
and loves jewelry.
And the policy which was started, Fifth Avenue
merchandise at fifth floor prices still prevails. Marcus Jewel Galleries never loses sight of the
customer who wants a pair of plain gold cuff links, or an inexpensive pair
of gold earrings. They aim to get business from the customer who shops
47th Street as well as the one who
shops Van Cleef and Arpels- and save both
of them money.
But leave it to Gimbels to leave nothing
undone, so when it remodelled its street floor, it set up a new jewelry
department there which carries and fills in such items as are not carried
on the fifth floor. On the street floor you may buy a gold baby ring at $1, and
here you will find all the noted national brand watches and diamonds.
Diamond rings from
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$19.95 to $5000. Lovely old amber, polished and set in modern bracelets,
earrings, necklaces in 10 and 14 kt. gold as low as $15 and about every
kind of best selling jewelry you will find in the better jewelry stores. It
is not unusual to see displayed and offered for sale on the street floor
department, hundreds of cultured pearl neck- laces that have just arrived
from Japan and offered for sale as low as
$12.95. Others running $1000 and up. Gold baby lockets or a new gold disc
to dangle from a bracelet showing a bee hovering over a bee hive and
engraved: "You are as sweet as honey".
We have had cases where customers would make a selection on the street floor
and hold to compare with an item on the fifth floor. We recall a case where
a customer finally bought both.
The famous watches and products sold there may be purchased at the most
convenient terms, more and more people are buying their jewels and more
people than ever are using Gimbels
convenient budget payment plan.
That's the story of jewelry for adornment and investment.
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