Description

c. 1853

• Messenger for a New York Jewelry Company

c.1862

• Set up a Business on John Street

c. 1864

• Starr & Marcus
• Partnered with Herman Marcus

1876

• Exhibited at the Centennial International Exhibition In Philadelphia
• Displayed Diamond and Pearl Necklaces, Diamond Aigrette, Coral Brooches and Numerous Cameos and Intaglios

c.1877

• Starr & Marcus broke up
• Company Renamed Theodore B. Starr
• 206 Fifth Avenue near Madison Square
• Worked in Many Revival Styles Including Egyptian Revival

1890

• New York Times Reported “Starr’s establishment… has no duplicate in this country, and probably not in the world.”

1893

The New York Times Describes Starr’s Store:

PRECIOUS STONES, GOLD AND SILVER: Beautiful Jewelry Displayed in the Store of Theodore B. Starr.

The opal for centuries has been regarded as an emblem of ill luck and the bringer of misfortune to its possessor, but now the opal is giving the ever-precious and glistening diamond a hard run in the race for popularity. Those who doubt this can have their doubts removed by a visit to the store of Theodore B. Starr at 206 Fifth Avenue.

Here the gem glitters in glory, a favorite with lovers of the beautiful in precious stones, and the once haughty diamond plays, in many magnificent specimens of the jeweler’s art, the minor role of enhancing the rich hues of the shining stone. The five floors of Mr. Starr’s establishment contain a collection of things beautiful. The clocks – cathedral clocks with sweet chimes; the bronzes, wonderful in skillful workmanship – showing how hard and unyielding metal can be made to assume the appearance of soft-flowing draperies, and the vases and porcelains all form a bewildering display.

But it is on the ground floor that the visitor pauses. Here are the diamonds, the gold, and the silver. Here the firm’s special and exclusive designs are on exhibition. Among them are a tiara containing 300 diamonds and 8 large emeralds, a corsage piece of pearls and diamonds arranged around a large sapphire, a necklace of emeralds and diamonds strung on an invisible gold chain, and a diamond-studded hair ornament – a sword with a golden blade.

An alexandrita [sic], a fine specimen of this rare gem, forms the centre of a corsage ornament, and another article, a pendant made to represent a palmetto, has its leaves composed of diamonds, which form a shining background for one immense purple pearl, a flawless specimen of this rare and odd jewel.¹

c.1907

• Starr’s Son Incorporated the Company

1918

• Company Sold to Reed & Barton

1. New York Times, April 18, 1893.↵