American Jewelry Manufacturers PDF Download

During colonial times, early Dutch settlers, many of whom were experienced in pewter and silver, immigrated to New England. The actual birth of the U.S. costume jewelry industry is said to have occurred in 1794, when Nehemiah Dodge, a goldsmith and watch repairer in Providence, Rhode Island, developed a method for plating base metal with gold. He patented processes to make quality gold jewelry of less than 18K which was the standard at that time. It is he who is given credit for the commencement of costume jewelry production. By 1810, one hundred workers were employed by jewelry manufacturers in Rhode Island. Small businesses were developing throughout southern New England. As the turn of the century approached, skilled jewelry craftsmen were being replaced by machinery. Production and labor became more specialized. Instead of just "jewelers," there were toolmakers, die cutters, and machine operators. Production was broken down into electroplating, enameling, engraving, chasing, die sinking and lapidary work. Mass production of jewelry had begun in Rhode Island. To this day, American jewelry manufacturing has remained an industry comprised of small businesses, most of them in the northeastern portion of the United States with the costume jewelry manufacturing mostly concentrated in Rhode Island. There has, however, been some shift to California, Texas, Florida and South Dakota. In recent years the jewelry industry has been affected by substantial consolidation with the development of national chains. This is due in part to the development of enclosed shopping malls, competition from department stores, catalog showrooms and television shopping networks. In addition, suffering from high rent costs in shopping malls, jewelry retailers are reducing their overhead by skipping the middlemen and purchasing their inventory directly.