Raymond Yard

In 1898 at the age of thirteen, Raymond Yard began his career in the jewelry industry as a doorboy at Marcus & Co. in New York. Having impressed his employers and customers, he rose through the ranks learning the skills of jewelry production and salesmanship. His big break came in 1922 when John D. Rockefeller Jr. encouraged Yard to start his own firm. Yard rarely advertised, instead relying on word-of-mouth accolades from loyal families such at the Vanderbilts, duPonts and Woolworths and celebrities including Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks. Yard’s exceptional eye for quality and design elevated him to an icon of American Art Deco jewelry, and under the care of Bob Gibson, the son of Raymond Yard’s successor, that exemplary reputation continues today.