Tiffany & Co.: Signature Jewelry in a Signature Blue Box
With its trademark blue boxes and over a century of luxury lore behind it, Tiffany & Co. is perhaps the world's most identifiable emporium of opulence. Above all, Tiffany is known for its jewelry, which made up 87% of the company's revenues last year. Unsurprisingly, Tiffany is a finalist in Luxist's Best Jewelry category.
Founded by Charles Louis Tiffany in 1837, the store's first day receipts totaled $4.98. But Tiffany soon found success. By 1851, Tiffany became the first company to institute the silver standard that was eventually adopted by the U.S. By the turn of the 20th Century, Tiffany had moved into a spacious new Manhattan headquarters, which it outgrew by 1940.
The following years saw Tiffany & Co. grow as an icon with the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn. Flush with success, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987.
The company is now known by its style which has long been defined by groundbreaking designers (Louis C. Tiffany, Jean Schlumberger, Paloma Picasso, Elsa Peretti and Frank Gehry, to name a few). It is also known for its glamorous collections that are now classics, from the Atlas, Classic, Etoile and Open Heart to the Tiffany Keys collection (above) which are innately chic pendants and charms inspired by Tiffany's archives.
Shares debuted at a split-adjusted $1.91, and have since soared some 2,000% despite the recent recession. Today, the company's current New York flagship store accounts for roughly one-tenth of the company's net sales. Tiffany & Co. boasts 85 other stores in the U.S., 96 in the Asia-Pacific region and 24 in Europe. Its signature jewelry, most notably its famed engagement rings and statement diamonds, still come in the same Tiffany blue boxes.
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