Prominent North Attleboro jewelers Charles T. Paye (1875 – 1919) and Frank L. Baker (1880 – 1923) were both native of Providence and first started in business in that city. The result of their partnership was the Paye & Baker Mfg company, producing silverware, jewelry and souvenir spoons.

Charles T. Paye headed the firm as president, and Frank L. Baker was vice-president and treasurer. In fact, Paye & Baker Mfg Co was a continuation of the Simmons & Paye Mfg Co, 129 Eddy St., Providence, Rhode Island, that existed since 1896. Charles T. Paye removed to North Attleboro bringing with him a business in 1902.
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The founder and chairman of the board of directors of the jewelry company Arthur A. Everts Co. was Arthur A Everts (1866-1952) of Dallas, Texas. He lived in Dallas his entire life and started his business in 1897 in a small room 12 feet wide and 18 feet long. His assets consisted of twenty-two dollars in cash, two rented display cases, and merchandise purchased on credit.

Everts began as apprentice to an engraver at the age of 16, later learned watchmaking, and at night studied copper-plate engraving in his uncle’s store in Lancaster. When he came to Dallas, it was a little city of 12,000. By patience and persistence Everts traveled the road of success to become one of the largest jewelry companies in America.
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Edward Ferdinand Maritz (1863–1929) established E Maritz Jewelry Manufacturing Company in 1894. Located at 104 N. Sixth street, St. Louis, Missouri, Maritz specialized in manufacturing, engraving, designing, fine diamond work, repairing and importing diamonds and precious stones.

In April 1909 Edward Maritz and Samuel Kober formed a partnership and renamed the Maritz-Kober Jewelry Mfg Co to the Maritz-Kober Jewelry Mfg Co. Noteworthy, previously Samuel Kober was secretary of the E Maritz Jewelry Mfg Co, and looked after the business during the absence of Edward Maritz.
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The history of the Wachenheimer Brothers jewelry company began in 1903 under the name H. Wachenheimer & Co. Its founders were brothers Harry and Samuel Wachenheimer, as well as Charles F. Markham and John H. Stone. In December 1904, Harry (b. 1878) and Samuel Wachenheimer (1880-1927) bought out their partners’ shares.

After their third brother, Jacob (1876 – 1934), joined the business in January 1905, they changed the firm’s name to Wachenheimer Brothers. The three brothers, all New York natives, were the sons of Ferdinand and Caroline Wachenheimer. Harry Wachenheimer led the company as president, Samuel became vice president and treasurer, and Jacob became vice president and secretary.
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The history of Cooper & Foreman began in 1894 in New York City and spanned six decades, until 1955. Located at 3 Maiden Lane in New York City, the firm initially manufactured diamond and gemstone jewelry and traded in precious stones.

In fact, the firm’s history is inextricably linked with the biographies of its founders and presidents, of whom there were three over the course of those six decades. The first was William Cooper (1851-1926), then Arthur W. Foreman (1866-1931), and the last was Charles C. Pickford (1879-1954).
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The history of the New York company Chas Keller & Co., which was a continuation of the Keller & Untermeyer business, began in 1873. The company’s founder, David Untermeyer, along with Alexander Keller, who later became his son-in-law, launched Keller & Untermeyer in New York in 1870.

Keller & Untermeyer was initially a wholesale jewelry business. Alexander Keller died in 1873, and David Untermeyer (1841-1900) took over the business and became the de facto founder of Charles Keller & Co. In 1875, Keller & Untermeyer Mfg entered the jewelry market under the name Charles Keller & Co.
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A native of Germany, Leopold Stern (1848 – 1928) was the son of jeweler Nathan Stern, who instilled in him an interest in all aspects of the jewelry business. Arriving in the United States with his parents in March 1863, Leopold Stern joined his father’s jewelry business, then based in Philadelphia.

On July 12, 1871, he and his brother Isidor moved to New York City, where they opened an office at 61 Nassau Street. The brothers became partners in their father’s firm and named their partnership Stern Bros & Co. The brothers began with a small production facility but soon opened a factory at 17 and 19 John Streets.
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