JEWELRY (ante), alLiNuFacTunE or, in the United States. The wearing of jewelry, was earnestly discountenanced in the New England colonies as a practice savoring of worldly pride and ostentation, and therefore hardly compatible with piety. This form of asceticism, thdugh it had its root in religious feeling, was no doubt stimulated by the poverty of the times. Gold beads appear to have been exempt from the prevalent pro scription,. being cherished as heirlooms, and transmitted with pride and daughter; and as the colonies became prosperous, it became more usual for the fortunate possessors of gold coins to band them over to the goldsmith to be cast into rings or chains. In the colonies s. of New England the religious objection to wearing jewelry was not so much felt, but the demand for it was limited, and most of ghat which was worn was imported. The jewelers of the period sometimes made plain rings and chains, but the manufacture of jewelry as a business was unknown in this country until some time after the war of independence. It is believed to have been first introduced in Newark, N. J., somewhere between 1790 and 1795, by Epaphms Hinsdale, who died in 1810, and was succeeded by Mr. Taylor, one of his workmen, who greatly enlarged the business and invented new machines for the prosecution of the work. Somewhere about 1800 the business was introduced in Providence, R. I., and was rapidly extended them. Mr. Hinsdale and Mr. Taylor had made all their articles of solid gold, but the Providence manufacturers soon began to make what is known as "filled work," the face of the jewel being stamped out from a thin ribbon of gold, and the shell filled with a solder of some baser metal, and then covered on the back with a thin layer of gold of an inferior quality. Of course this sort of work, which was scarcely distinguishable by an untrained eye. could be sold for much less than work of solid gold, and therefore it found a ready market. In 1812 Mr. George F. Downing began to manufacture various articles of jewelry in Newark, and in 1821 lie removed to New York, where the manufacture of filigree jewelry had been introduced in 1812 by a Frenchman named La Guerre. From this time onward the business rapidly increased, until it diet a check in the financial revulsion of 1837. With the return of national proSperity it revived, and was immensely
increased by the discovery of gold in California. It met with another check in the dis asters of 1857. and had hardly recovered when the war of the rebellion gave it another blow: but it was revived and immensely expanded when the country was flooded with paper money, and fortunes began to be amassed Diamonds, which before that time had been rarely worn, Were now in great demand, and the setting of them, previously confined to Europe, became a recognized branch of the jewelry manufacture in the United States. Imitation jewelry was also extensively manufactured to meet the wants of the poorer classes, who were infected by the fashion of the time. The trade in this spurious stuff was immense, yielding an aggregate profit of millions of dollars to those engaged in it. The annual production of jewelry in this country in 1850 was estimated at a little less than $2,000,000. In 1860 the number of establishments had increased to 463, employing a capital of more than $5,000,000, giving employment to about 6,000 persons, paying wages to the amount of $2,600,000, and producing annually goods valued at about $10.500,000. The productions of hair jewelry was a separate branch of business, and the goods annually produced amounted to somewhat less than $15,000. Lapidaries' work, which was carried on in 7 establishments, was valued at about $37,006 yearly. In 1870 the number of establishments was 681, employing over 10,000 persons, using capital amounting to about $12,000,000, paying wages to the amount of nearly $4,500,000, and producing goods valued at over $22,000.000. The great centers of jewelry manufacture are New York, which in 1870 had 198 establish. meats, and produced goods valued at $9.595,700; Providence, with 74 establishments, and products valued at. $3,086.816; Philadelphia, 53 establishments, $1,583,741; Boston, $338,000; Springfield, Mass., $370,000; Cincinnati, $338,000; San Francisco, 1S estab lishments, $475,562; Bristol co., Mass., 33 establishm,pnts, $1.510,925. The financial revulsion of 1873 depressed the business greatly, hut it is now again becoming pros perous.