Moving to New York City in 1924 with $500 in her pocket, she opened a jewelry boutique in 1926 in the old
McAlpin Hotel, and a second outlet within the year at West 57th Street. Frank Hess joined her business the same year. Despite some controversy concerning the extent to which the jewelry designs are Haskell's or Hess's (Ellman quotes Haskell's nephew's claim that she designed a great deal;), the two worked together until Miriam left the company; Hess continued to design for many years afterwards. In the 1930s, the company relocated to 392 Fifth Avenue; their affordable
art glass,
strass, and gold-plate parures were popular throughout the Great Depression, and the company went on to open boutiques at
Saks Fifth Avenue and Burdine's, as well as stores in Miami and London. The Saks shop also offered pieces by
Chanel. and a Florida dealer found many in a set of steamer trunks around 1978; Haskell's family sold her archives and samples to defray the costs of her nursing home. Her vintage pieces can command high prices from collectors. However, her jewelry was seldom signed before 1950, and it was her brother Joseph Haskell who introduced the first regularly signed Miriam Haskell jewelry. For a very short time during the 1940s, a shop in New England did request all pieces they received be signed by Miriam - this signature being a horseshoe-shaped plaque with Miriam Haskell embossed on it. Pieces with this signature are rare.
Wealthiest patrons and community work Haskell's clients included
Florenz Ziegfeld, who decorated the chorines of his Follies with her designs; Bernard Gimbel of the department store chain; and John D. Hertz Jr., scion of the car-rental company. With Hess, she traveled in search of materials to Paris,
Gablonz, Venice, and
Wattens, home of Daniel
Swarovski's crystal factory. She built a mansion that she called Sainte Claire Cottage on the
Hudson River near
Ossining. When the Ohio flooded in 1937, Haskell sent boxcars full of relief materials to New Albany, and traveled home to assist during the disaster. In World War II, she gave generously to the war effort, and asked Hess to create new patriotic metalfree jewelry designs, using natural materials and plastics. It was a sad ending for an exceptional life, but, as Pamfiloff writes, "Obviously, the legacy of her dream has filtered on down through the decades. It was a man's world. Designers were men. The owners of companies were men. The staff was men. The salesmen were men. It was all men. And then you had
Coco Chanel, who just jumped right out there, and a couple of other women who carved out their own niche in the world. Haskell did that, too." ==Books==