Miriam Haskell

How to read it

Miriam Haskell opened a costume jewelry shop at the McAlpin Hotel in New York, in 1924 according to Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and in 1926 according to W magazine. Cooper Hewitt describes Haskell jewelry by its filigree, with beads mostly from France and Venice and crystals mostly from Bohemia; her principal designer, Frank Hess, joined in 1926 and stayed until 1960. Her brother took over the business in 1950. The MIRIAM HASKELL registration for jewelry claims first use on 31 December 1926; it was registered by Haskell Jewels, LLC and is now owned by Centric Brands Holding LLC. W magazine reports that Frank Fialkoff bought the label in 1990, under the parent company Haskell Jewels.

Also searched as: haskell signature, miriam haskell jewelry, miriam haskell mark.

Unsigned Haskell

Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l, from the research of Cathy Gordon and Sheila Pamfiloff, says no Haskell jewelry carried a permanent signature from 1926 to about 1947, and that signing was irregular from about 1947 to 1949. A black and gold paper hang tag was used in the unsigned years.

The horseshoe and the oval

The earliest signature is a horseshoe-shaped plaque, used mainly from 1948 to 1950 and still in the company’s stock. An oval hang tag, with the stamping showing through on the back, began around 1950 or 1951, and from about 1979 the oval tags are flat on the back. An oval plaque soldered to the filigree is still in use. M. Haskell marks the company’s current, less expensive line.

1924 or 1926, 1889 or 1899

The sources disagree on dates in Miriam Haskell’s own life too. Cooper Hewitt gives her birth as 1889, in Cannelton, Indiana; W magazine gives 1899. W reports that she died in 1981 at 82.