• Fifty years of the New York jewelry firm Marcus & Co. in one volume
• Exceptional Art Nouveau and Art Deco jewelry art that rivals Tiffany and Cartier
• Includes high-quality images of jewelry alongside archival drawings
The New York jewelry firm of Marcus & Co. (1892–1942) created exceptional examples of Art Nouveau and Art Deco jewelry for an art-loving, wealthy elite. Innovative in their collaboration with contemporary artists, and in their captivating window displays and advertisements, the firm captured the imagination of Gilded Age families such as the Rockefellers. This volume chronicles their story, from the founder’s apprenticeship in Dresden to the firm’s grand premises on Fifth Avenue neighboring Tiffany and Cartier. The triumphs and tragedies of three generations of Marcus jewelers, both artistic and entrepreneurial, are presented here together with exquisite jewelry and archival design drawings spanning 50 years.
Foreword
7 Acknowledgments
9 Notes to the Reader
11 PART I:
BIRTH OF A FAMILY BUSINESS
13 Early Days in Germany, 18281850
16 Arrival in New York: Tiffany & Co. and Ball,
Black & Co., 18501863
23 Foundation and Dissolution of Starr & Marcus,
18641877
47 Return to Tiffany & Co. and Establishing
Jaques & Marcus, 18781892
67 Transition to Marcus & Co., 1892
75 PART II:
MARCUS & CO., THE SECOND
GENERATION
77 Early Days of Marcus & Co., and the Arts and
Crafts Exhibitions, 18921899
86 Design Drawings: The Emergence of Signature
Styles
112 Early Jewels in Their Signature Styles,
18991906
151 Success and Stability: The Third Generation
Joins the Firm, 19061917
159 The Evolution of Their Signature Styles,
19061917
197 Transition to Third Generation Leadership,
19171925
211 PART III:
BUILDING A MODERN BUSINESS
213 William E. Marcus Jr., New President and
Innovator, 19251929
240 Navigating the Great Depression, 19311935
254 The Final Flowering: The Jonker Diamond,
the International Flower Style, and the
New York Worlds Fair, 19371939
283 The End Game and Transition to Gimbels
285 Family Developments and Williams Golden
Years, 19421970
295 APPENDICES
296 APPENDIX I
Selected Marks & Signatures
298 APPENDIX II
The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston,
Exhibitions 1897 and 1899
300 Selected Bibliography
303 Index
Beth Carver Wees is Curator Emerita, The American Wing, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and formerly Curator of Decorative Arts at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. An international lecturer, she is the author of English, Irish & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (1997) and Early American Silver in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2013). Beth was one of six organizing curators for The Mets museum-wide exhibition "Jewelry: The Body Transformed" and was a contributor to its catalogue (2018). In 2019 she curated the Mets special exhibition "Jewelry for America".
Since 2000, Sheila Smithie has been a jewellery specialist and appraiser for Skinner Auctioneers, Bonhams and Macklowe Gallery. She is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, and recipient of its 2005 Christies Prize. From 2013, she consulted for Beth Wees, jewelry curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, helping to research the museums holdings for the 2018 exhibition "Jewelry: The Body Transformed. She designed and taught the course "Gems and Jewelry: History and Markets" for masters degree students at Sotheby's Institute in New York. A graduate of Harvard College, she spent her early career in investment banking, working in Europe and Latin America.
