We've long been fascinated by Paul Gillot, tFrench-born jewelry designer and longtime Gustav Manz associate who arrived in New York City in 1902, and shortly thereafter joined Marcus & Company as a designer; he remained at the firm, cultivating French expats like Sarah Bernhardt and Marcel Knecht, until September 1914 when he obtained leave of absence to join the French infantry on the battlefields of Verdun—at age 37. Wounded twice before his discharge, he returned to New York in June 1915, and with his Dutch-born wife Mathilda set up Gillot & Co. At his death in 1949, the firm was located at 610 Fifth Avenue, La Maison Française. This diamond and sapphire dress clip is, pardon our French, a corker. Was it set in Manz's shop? C'est possible.
Gillot & Co letterhead from the early 1920s
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Jewelry images: eBay
Gillot & Co letterhead: National Archives, Petitions for Naturalization
from U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, 1897-1944
from U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, 1897-1944
