A third-generation Dutch diamond dealer, Jacques H Adler (1916 – 2001), came to the United States in 1940 during the height of World War II. In 1941, he opened the House of Adler jewelry store in Denver and Colorado Springs. The first mention of Jacques Adler’s business appeared in the Jewelers’ Circular in March 1943. The article described the successful advertising and development of Adler’s jewelry business.

That same year, Jacques Adler met his future wife, May E Adler, who also owned a jewelry business in her native Colorado. In 1944, their first daughter, Jacqueline, was born, and in 1945, their second daughter, Maury. By this time, Jacques Adler and his wife had formed a partnership to run the jewelry business. He owned 60%, and his wife 40%.

The Adler family had stores in the Burns Building and the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, and in January 1944, they acquired another store. This was the historic Frank M. Truby Jewelry Store in Colorado Springs, founded in 1873.

Beginning in 1944, Adler jewelry ads appeared in the Vogue magazine. Jacques Adler himself continually advertised for jewelers, engravers, and watchmakers to join his company. In June 1945, William Kassel, a renowned engraving and design expert, joined Jacques Adler as manager of his Denver jewelry store.

William Kassel

A native New Yorker, William Kassel (1887 – 1953), was author of the “ABC of Modern Engraving” and the “Art of Engraving.” Prior to that he taught at Washington Tech in Washington, D. C., and in the New Castle Jewelers Training School, New Castle, Pa.

Kassel was former instructor of designing and engraving, Linders Art School and Jaeger’s Trade School. He also, at one time, was foreman of the engraving department at Macy’s in New York and Bamberger’s in Newark. N. J., and managed the Spooner and Meyer store in Brooklyn, N. Y.

Designing Jewelry

Adler’s Denver shop specialized in fine silver and gemstone jewelry, and operated according to its own principles. William Cassel and Jacques Adler devoted personal attention to every gemstone sale, creating custom designs tailored to the customer’s tastes.

They designed rings, earrings, and clasps in the client’s presence, then executed the designs in watercolor, revealing the stones and precious metals in their true colors. These pieces were crafted in their own workshop under the close supervision of Cassel and Adler.

Closing business

In 1946, Jacques Adler and his wife, May, had to sell their partnership business in Colorado Springs, to pay off the partnership’s debts. Thus, the history of Jacques Adler jewelry lasted only a short time, from 1941 to 1946. However, Adler was not poor, because in addition to jewelry stores, Adler owned concessions in military stores.

Jacques Adler returned to the jewelry business in 1948, as the general manager of the Kortz-Lee jewelry store. In 1951, his name was mentioned in the press as “Jacques Adler, general manager of Lee stores, with many years of experience in merchandising, specifically in the jewelry industry.”

Knighthood of the Order

There were other events unrelated to business in the jeweler’s life. For example, in 1955 Jacques Adler received the Knighthood of the Order of King Leopold II of Belgium. The reason for the high title – he organized a huge clothing drive on behalf of Belgians who were destitute after World War II.

In 1957, Jacques H Adler founded a wholesale jewelry firm Padler Inc., headquartered at 706 Colorado Building, Denver, Colorado. He also announced the construction of three self-service supermarkets in the Denver area, in June 1961.

In 1969, Adler moved his headquarters to Hawaii and wrote his memoirs, “The Joy of Life.” He also served as a foreign trade adviser to Belgium. At age 70, Jacques Adler married again. He and his wife Suzanne returned to Denver in 1997, where he died four years later.

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