Born in 1906 in Marseille, Emil Pascal Battiste was a French jeweler who came to New York in the early 1930s. He applied for US citizenship in 1935 and was granted citizenship the following year. Battiste began his jewelry business in 1937 in partnership with Arthur Sundelin. They established Battiste and Sandells, jewelry firm at 22 W , 48 Street, New York City.

Seven years later, Emil Battiste dissolved the partnership and became the sole owner of the company under his own name. In 1949 the company became a corporation Emil Battiste, Inc., and remained at the same address 22 W, 48 Street. In his atelier, a small team of ten goldsmiths created exquisite jewelry from platinum, gold and precious stones.

Battiste often invited clients to his atelier, where designers helped develop jewelry and select the necessary materials according to the customer’s wishes. Notably, among his clients were New York celebrities and the most influential and famous people of that time including the Kennedy family and the Rockefellers.

Jeweler and inventor

Emil Battiste was not only a designer and jeweler, he was also the author of several inventions, for which he received patents in the 1940s and 1950s. According to business directories, Emil Battiste, Inc ceased to exist in 1981.

Some of Battiste jewelry can be seen in an advertisement for Palm Beach Life magazine in 1963, but they cannot convey the full variety and sophistication of the jewelry of the now forgotten jeweler.

Vintage ads