Tiffany & Co
Tiffany & Co is a world famous jewellery designers and retailers based in New York City with stores all over the world.
Founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young, it started out as a ‘stationery and fancy goods emporium’. They originally operated as Tiffany, Young and Ellis but the name was shortened to Tiffany & Co when Charles Tiffany took control in 1853 and the emphasis switched to jewellery.
Tiffany were unique during the 1830s in that they marked the prices on their goods and did not ‘haggle’.
In 1845 they published their first mail-order catalogue known as the ‘Blue Book’ , the first mail-order catalogue to be published in the United States and which still continues to be published today.
The firm continued to grow and it increased its collection of silver with New York made silver bearing the Tiffany retailer’s marks. Tiffany became the first American firm to use English Sterling silver (.925/92.5% silver) in a bid to ensure the highest quality and this later became the United States standard.
President Lincoln, for his inauguration in 1861, presented his wife Mary with a Tiffany pearl necklace. They were the first American firm to win an award for their silver at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867.
In 1868, P.T. Barnum, the celebrated circus showman ordered a wedding gift for the 2’11” General Tom Thumb – a miniature jewelled silver horse carriage. In the 1870s Charles Tiffany bought a 287-carat yellow diamond, it resulted in a 128.54 carat diamond when cut and was named the ‘Tiffany Diamond’. Harry Houdini, escapologist extraordinaire was presented with a diamond studded Tiffany pocketwatch whose chain was made from tiny gold handcuffs. They made history when in 1887 Charles Tiffany purchased the French Crown Jewels earning him the moniker the ‘King of Diamonds’.
Appointed as Tiffany’s first official design director in 1902, Charles’ son Louis Comfort Tiffany became a leading light of the Art Nouveau movement with his stained glass lamps, and fanciful jewellery designs being manufactured at their Fifth Avenue store.
They also design and manufacture sporting trophies for some of the best known sporting events including the world championship baseball trophy in 1888, the eight foot Indianapolis 500 trophy in 1909 and more recently the trophies for the US Open Tennis championship winners.
Today they have over 300 stores worldwide and over 9,000 employees.