Necklace

This delicate pendant is fashioned as a cluster of grapes composed of natural seed pearls and mounted on chased gold wires. It is marked on the reverse with the name KOHN and is suspended from a 14-karat gold link chain set with six seed pearls. In its design and in the history of the firm, it represents a classic example of early 20th-century American-made jewelry.


Henry Kohn & Sons was founded by a Bohemian immigrant, Henry Kohn (1839--1917), who arrived in the United State in 1865 and became a naturalized citizen in 1872. Following several years working in different locations in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1898 he established a retail luxury goods store at 890-892 Main Street. The firm remained at that address until 1951, when it was sold to G. Fox and Co. Between 1896 and 1934, the firm manufactured jewelry at the Kohn & Co. factory at Camp and Orchard Streets in Newark, NJ—Newark being home to some 200 jewelry factories in the 19th century. They also maintained a wholesale diamond business at 11 Maiden Lane in New York City, in the heart of what was then New York’s jewelry district. In addition to jewelry and watches, Henry Kohn & Sons retailed silver flatware and hollowware, porcelain, cut glassware, and other objets d’art. Henry Kohn was joined in business by his four sons: Albert M. Kohn, George E. Kohn, Oscar W. Kohn, and Edmund P. Kohn. In 1921 Henry’s oldest son, Albert, bought the interests of his brothers to become president of the firm.