Russian-born Henry Lewkowitz (1872 – 1919) arrived in New York in 1888, when he was 16 years old. He later listed 1888 as the year of the establishment of his jewelry business. In fact, he began working as an apprentice in watch and jewelry repair shops in 1888.

In 1892, he opened his own watch repair shop at 106 Eldridge Street, in New York’s Lower East Side. After nearly twenty years of running the shop, he accumulated the necessary capital to open a jewelry boutique at 294 Grand Street in 1911.
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Paul Nettler Lackritz (1872 – 1941), a prominent and successful jeweler of Chicago, left Russia for the United States in 1892. He settled in Chicago, and for six years he worked at the bench. In 1898 he opened Lackritz Jewelers firm on Milwaukee Avenue, and quickly established himself as a skilled jeweller.

Paul Lackritz impressed with his well-timed and witty remarks. At one of the 24 Karat Club meetings, where he was president, he declared that his destiny was to make humanity happy. “The jeweler creates an engagement ring that inextricably binds hearts, and a baby ring that elevates a symbol of love to the brink of marital bliss”.
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A. Sauer & Co was originally established in 1921 in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a leather wrist watch strap maker. In fact, the company’s history is one of constant expansion, acquisition and absorption of other firms during the Great Depression.

Born in suburban Newport, Kentucky, Albert Sauer (1895 – 1954) was a son of one of that city’s prominent pioneer retail jewelers. Albert Sauer Jr began his career at the Cincinnati Times Star as an office boy, and then served as an apprentice for Joseph Noterman Co., jewelers, for about six years.
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The now-forgotten name of jeweler Roy W Johnston (1886–1967) was particularly well known in New York in the first half of the 20th century. The Jewelers’ Circular Keystone first mentioned Johnston in 1911, when he was working for Thomas F. Brogan, a jewelry manufacturer at 16 West 46th Street in New York City.

Incidentally, Johnston later contributed to the JCK magazine as an expert and author of articles on promoting the jewelry business, store management, and successful retailing. A recognized expert in the jewelry retail trade, he also designed and manufactured unique jewelry.
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The son of Russian immigrants, William Berns (1903-1962) grew up in a large family of six children—four daughters and two sons. William was unmarried and lived with his mother Milly at 19 East Eighty-eighth Street in Manhattan.

In the 1930s, William and his brother started their jewelry business Berns Brothers at 435 Madison Avenue, New York City. Before 1940, William Berns became the sole owner of the store and changed the firm’s name to Berns Jewelers.
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The history of Robert Fleischer Co., costume jewelry manufacturing firm, began in 1944 and lasted two decades. For twenty years Robert Fleischer Company headquartered at 366 Fifth Avenue, in the building also known as The New York Accessories Exchange.

The firm launched La Marquise jewelry line for brooches, earrings, pins, necklaces, bracelets and lockets made of precious and semi-precious metals in September 1945. The following year, they registered the brand La Marquise Pearls for costume jewelry made with artificial pearls. In April 1952 they also began making costume jewelry under “Vari-jewels” brand.
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The history of the Marjorie Raven costume jewelry brand lasted no more than 15 years. Marjorie Raven and Louis Raven, a New York couple, founded their jewelry manufacturing and sales business in 1945. Initially, it was a small workshop and storefront at 698 Madison Avenue, where Raven created designs and made her jewelry.

According to the 1953 business directory, Marjorie Raven was president, and Louis Raven was secretary and treasurer. The company employed eight people, including Marjorie, and where Louis Raven was the only man.
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