In 1837 Charles Lewis Tiffany and partner John B. Young opened a fancy goods and stationery emporium in lower Manhattan with $1,000 from a cotton mill. Tiffany set fixed prices with no haggling and took cash only, and in 1845 launched the Blue Book, the first U.S. direct mail luxury catalog. He renamed the firm Tiffany & Co. in 1853 and moved into jewelry and silver. During the Civil War it made the Model 1840 cavalry saber, flags and surgical instruments for the Union, later redesigned the Great Seal of the United States and created the Tiffany Cross version of the Medal of Honor. A $500,000 “Palace of Jewels” opened in 1870.

Tiffany bought a 128.54 carat yellow diamond, later worn by Audrey Hepburn and Beyoncé, acquired much of the French crown jewels in 1887, and introduced the six-prong Tiffany setting in 1886. After his 1902 death, son Louis Comfort Tiffany led design toward Art Nouveau. Avon bought the company in 1978 for about $104 million in stock, and quality complaints followed. In 1998 the firm trademarked its 1837 Blue with Pantone. LVMH completed a nearly $16 billion takeover between 2019 and 2021 after a legal fight during the pandemic.

• Fixed prices were adapted from a model used on London Bridge in the 1750s.
• The firm moved to its Fifth Avenue building in 1940 and produced holiday cards with Andy Warhol in the 1950s and 1960s.
• One publication compared the Avon-era flagship to a Macy’s white sale, and engagement rings were advertised from $850 in the early 1990s.
• The company makes the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the Larry O’Brien Trophy and League of Legends championship trophies.
• LVMH sued over dividends paid during COVID-19 losses before settling on a reduced price and delisting the stock.