The Iconic Tiffany & Co.

I think it is safe to say that almost everyone knows of Tiffany & Co – whether they own a piece of their exquisite jewelry or have just envied from afar. Marjorie Hart was fortunate to spend the summer of 1945 at the Tiffany flagship store as the first female page on the floor – and shares that story with us in the wonderful memoir Summer at Tiffany. From their gorgeous jewelry to that brilliant blue box that says it all, Tiffany & Co is an iconic image for the ages.

The Tiffany Yellow Diamond, shown here in its most well know setting, the “Bird on the Rocks” brooch, was likely discovered around 1877 in South Africa. It was cut in Paris as a cushion-cut brilliant and weighs in at a whopping 128.54 carats with 90 facets. In its raw state it was 287 carats! It was imported to the United States in 1879 at a price of $18,000. In 1983 it was valued at $12,000,000! This diamond has only been worn by two women – a Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse for the 1957 Tiffany Ball and Audrey Hepburn for promotional photographs for the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The iconic blue color of the Tiffany boxes was first used in 1878 on the cover of its Tiffany Blue Book catalogue. It is said that this color was chosen because of the popularity of brides at the time to give turquoise jewelry to the ladies. This color has now been trademarked by Tiffany and is a symbol of everything that they stand for. The New York Sun, in 1906, reported that “(Charles Lewis) Tiffany has one thing in stock that you cannot buy of him for as much money as you may offer; he will only give it to you. And that is one of his boxes”.
Any hardcore sports fan probably prides themselves as knowing nothing about Tiffany & Co – but some of the most iconic images in sports have Tiffany in them. The World Series Trophy, Nascar Nextel Cup, The Vince Lombardi Superbowl Trophy, The NBA and WNBA Championship Trophies, as well as various other championship rings and trophies have always been created by Tiffany out of sterling silver!
The first Tiffany glass lamp was created around 1895 and had been believed to be created by Louis Comfort Tiffany – but in 2007 it was revealed that the most famous designs were created by an artist, Clara Driscoll. These beautiful lamps are hand-made by piecing together cut colored glass and affixing them together through a method called Copper Foil method. These are some of the most beautiful lamps around.

Original Tiffany & Co. Building

The flagship store of Tiffany & Co is located on premium real estate at the corner of 57th St and 5th Ave. The company moved to this location October 21, 1940. Today the 7 floor house everything Tiffany: Main Floor – the greatest jewels they have to offer; 2nd Floor – engagement jewelry; 3rd Floor – silver jewelry and gifts; 4th Floor – the home collection (china and glass); 5th Floor – special events and exhibitions; 6th Floor – Customer Service.

These are some of the most iconic images of arguably one of the greatest jewelers around. I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart so that you too can enjoy more of what Tiffany has to offer!
Much of my information was attained from the Tiffany & Co. website http://press.tiffany.com/AboutTiffany.aspx.




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