(1947-1969)

The well-known Beverly Hills jeweler, William Ruser was born in 1908 into a modest Philadelphia family. Parents William Jacob and Margaret Ruser moved the family to Atlantic City in the early 1920s seeking new employment opportunities. The younger William (Bill) Ruser found work as a clerk in a Boardwalk jewelry store catering to the tourist trade. Moving on from there, he worked for other jewelers gaining knowledge about the business. In 1935 the firm of Trabert & Hoeffer (soon to be Trabert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin) hired Ruser for their new Boardwalk location in Atlantic City. Bill had graduated to the big time and soon had the knowledge and experience to flourish in the luxury jewelry trade.

Trabert & Hoeffer opened a Los Angeles salon (relocation to Beverly Hills soon followed) and began doing business with the Hollywood crowd. Lending high-end jewelry to actresses and for use on film sets, the firm soon became a tinsel town favorite. In 1938 Ruser moved West to manage the Beverly Hills location. Bill had grand ideas and expanded the workshop to avoid logistical complications in coordinating between Beverly Hills and New York for the firm’s popular custom work. He remained with the firm until his enlistment into the Army Air Corps in 1942.

Upon his return to Beverly Hills in 1947, he and his wife opened their eponymous boutique on Rodeo Drive. Beverly Hills was booming and the world, anxious to return to pre-war normalcy, was ready for luxury. The time was right and opportunities for success aligned and Ruser began to design and manufacture his own line of jewelry. Working with designers and craftspersons in his own workshop, Ruser always had the last word from the design to the final product. He prided himself on producing quality jewelry with fine materials. 

While keeping traditional diamond and precious gemstone merchandise in stock, the Rusers’ specialty was baroque, freshwater pearl jewelry. Following a serendipitous meeting with a Santa Monica artist and wax carver (Cyril Wood) looking for work and a client wanting a three-dimensional rendering of her beloved poodle, Ruser’s business took on a whole new look. From a line of animal jewelry to zodiac-themed pieces, and medallions featuring the patron saints for everything from Pommeranians to performing arts these more affordable baubles flew off the shelves. Cyril’s wife, Vera, worked with her husband on the designs that he would transform into 3-D jewels. 

In another fortuitous collaboration, Vera’s love of a childhood poem and Ruser’s collection of unique American freshwater pearls, an iconic line of jewelry featuring the “Children of the Week” put Ruser on the map.  In the 1930s, Ruser had purchased several shoeboxes full of these oddly shaped, American pearls from a button manufacturer. Though Art Nouveau jewelers used them liberally to embellish their pieces, jewelers in the 1920s and 30s did not follow suit. In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Ruser helped to change this. In the vanguard, along with Verdura and Seaman Schepps, the Rusers created swans, hummingbirds, poodles, and skunks, alongside his golden cherubs, all with freshwater pearl accents. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, business boomed and Hollywood starlets proudly wore his figural pieces both on and off screen.

Another providential acquisition came to Ruser through a frequent customer. She had a collection of Lightning Ridge opals amassed by her late husband that she had no intention of selling. She showed them to Ruser and after some intense negotiation, he ended up acquiring half of her collection. When asked about the opals he reportedly replied: 

Well, I did not intend to sell them. I intended to hold them as a collection, but one by one someone wanted something that looked like a fish or that looked like a bird or that looked like a flower and the collection went. I can’t pass up a profit.¹

Ruser counted many celebrities of the era among the frequent visitors to his Rodeo Drive store. Acknowledged for his integrity and generosity by all who knew him, many of his customers became lifelong friends. 

Pleasing customers was paramount to the success story of Ruser Jewels. Not only did Ruser deliver, both literally and figuratively, but he went above and beyond what was required or even expected. Customers kept coming back, and some even became close friends. Ruser should be remembered as the consumate ‘jeweler to the stars’ and a man respected by his customers and his peers.²

In 1969, after 23 years in business, Ruser closed up shop, selling the iconic Rodeo Drive corner location to Van Cleef & Arpels.³