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Jewelry Stores Biography

Source (google.com.pk)

Charles Lewis Tiffany was born in the city of Killingly, Connecticut on February 15, 1812.  His father was Comfort Tiffany, a cotton goods manufacturer, and his mother’s name was Chloe Draper.  He received his education in the nearby city of Danielsonville.  He also attended the Plainfield’s Academy, also in Connecticut.  At the age of 15, Charles started working for a general store, located near his family’s mill; and also attended school.  He ran the store for ten years, after which, he joined his father’s company C. Tiffany & Son.Tiffany started his own company in 1837 with his partner John B. Young.  At the beginning the company sold miscellaneous inexpensive wares, but soon thereafter they began expanding to offer jewelry, diamonds, and watches. 

On November 30, 1841 Charles Tiffany married Harriet Young, his partner’s sister.  He had six children; one of them Louis Comfort Tiffany who became renowned for his Tiffany Favrile iridescent glassware and joined his father’s firm in 1900.  Louis was an early exponent of the Art Nouveau style, introduced in 1892. 

Tiffany masterly promoted and advertised his company contributing to its growth throughout the years.  In 1841, J. L. Ellis became a partner, and Tiffany and Young travelled throughout Europe, buying and acquiring large collections of jewelry.  In 1850, Tiffany introduced the English Sterling Silver standard which later was legalized for American Sterling silverware.  In 1853, Tiffany acquired the entire firm (known as Tiffany & Co.).   In 1858 Tiffany’s sold sections of the first transatlantic cable as souvenirs, which became one of the most publicized promotional events of that year.

During the Civil War, Tiffany’s manufactured patriotic items, such as flags, medals, and swords; one of these swords being a jewel-encrusted presentation sword for General Grant and one for General Sherman.  In 1858, after the war, Tiffany opened a London store, and moved its operations to New York’s Fifth Avenue.  In 1905 the store moved again to a sixteenth century Venetian style building on Fifth Avenue at 37th, which became a National Landmark in 1978.  It was during 1858 also that the company started producing clocks and watches.

In 1861 Tiffany was selected to design a presentation pitcher for the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln.  President Lincoln later bought his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a seed pearl jewelry suite from Tiffany’s.

In 1867, Tiffany’s was the first American company to win the gold medal for jewelry, and the grand prize for silverware at the Paris Exposition.  The company opened a factory in Newark, New Jersey, that produced Tiffany’s silverware, stationery, and leather goods.  Tiffany also designed copper, silver, and niello pitchers acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, many of which are currently in museum collections worldwide.   In 1868 Tiffany’s merged with Edward C. Moore & Co., a company of silversmiths.  Moore had been working for Tiffany’s as a designer since 1851, and is credited with introducing Japanese styles to the Tiffany designs of that period. 

In 1878, Charles Tiffany acquired the canary yellow diamond (the largest known of this color), and recognized as the Tiffany Diamond weighing 128.51 carats and cut from a rough diamond weighing 287.42 carats who is believed was found in the Kimberley Mine in South Africa, in that same year.  It was worn by Audrey Hepburn in publicity photos for the movie classic, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  It is displayed at several exhibitions, and continuously at Tiffany’s shop in New York City today.  In 1878, he also was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by France and awarded the medal Praemia Digno by the Czar of Russia.

In 1886, Tiffany introduced the “Tiffany Setting,” for diamond solitaire finger rings; which would become a classic engagement ring style.  This setting raised the stone up from the setting, thus allowing the maximum amount of light to set off the diamond’s brilliance. 

On February 18, 1902, Charles Lewis Tiffany, died of pneumonia at the age of ninety, in Yonkers, New York.  Tiffany had created a company that became the nation’s foremost jeweler for over fifty years and a uniquely American symbol of elegance and style. Tiffany proved to Europeans and others that his American artisans were among the best in the world.

Charles Tiffany was honored for his dedication to excellence in his day.  He was a founder of the New York Society of Fine Arts; patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and member of the National Academy of Design. 

After his death in 1902, his son, Louis Comfort Tiffany took the position of vice president and artistic director of Tiffany & Co., becoming an accomplished jeweler in addition to the fame he acquired for his designs in Favrile iridescent glassware.  In the same year, he established a special department within the company, called, Tiffany Art Jewelry. 

Tiffany continued to set benchmarks in the jewelry industry after Tiffany’s death; in 1926, Tiffany’s platinum became the official standard for all platinum in the United States.  In 1940, Tiffany moves its New York headquarters to its own building (designed by Cross & Cross), on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, in which it remains to the present time.  In 1955, Walter Hoving was given control of Tiffany by the Tiffany and Moore families.  After his retirement, Henry B. Platt (the great-great-grandson of Charles Tiffany), chairman of the Board in 1968 was responsible for the discovery, naming and introduction of tanzanite, a unique blue gemstone, to the world. 

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Jewelry Stores Indian Jewelry Sets Bangles Rings Box Designs Band Designs Lates Gold Earnings Designs Ads Photos Images Pics

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Jewelry Stores Indian Jewelry Sets Bangles Rings Box Designs Band Designs Lates Gold Earnings Designs Ads Photos Images Pics