Levison Brothers / California Jewelry Co. San Francisco facts for kids
Levison Brothers / California Jewelry Co. was a famous company that made and sold jewelry. It was active for many years, from 1859 to 1935. The company started in 1859 in San Francisco, California. By 1863, they were located at 629 Washington Street. Later, in 1871, they moved into their own large building at 134 Sutter Street. This building had two floors and was filled with special machines and tools. A powerful 25-horsepower engine ran all their equipment.
Levison Brothers sold many different items. Their advertisements from 1871 show they were the main sellers for several well-known brands. These included American Watch Co., Elgin National Watch Company, and Howard Watch Co. They also sold fine jewelry from Carter Sloan & Co. and silver-plated items from Meriden Britannia Co. and Rogers Brothers. The company imported many valuable goods like watches, diamonds, and other jewelry. They also brought in solid silverware, cutlery, clocks, and opera glasses. Besides selling, they were skilled at making their own beautiful jewelry. They even did important work like diamond cutting right in their building. Some old gold and silver watch cases still exist today, signed "Levison Bros." or with the initials "LB".
A special type of jewelry they made used local California gold. They combined it with beautiful stones like quartz and moss agate. They created popular items from the 1800s, such as chains, sleeve buttons, and lockets. They also made rings, thimbles, and solid gold belt buckles with fancy designs. One of their belt buckles is even in the New York Metropolitan Museum! It shows that a California Jewelry Company employee, Mr. William Cummings, invented a special belt buckle design in 1868. Not many of these unique pieces are still around today.
The company also made small gold coins called fractional gold coinage. These coins were legal money for one year in 1871. They had an "L" stamp, showing they were made by Levison Brothers. The company used gold found right in California. They even bought out another company, R.B. Gray Co., to keep making these coins. However, the government eventually tried to stop their production. Even after that, a former employee of Levison Brothers continued to make these coins for a few more years. These fractional gold coins from that time are mostly seen as souvenirs now.
Herman Levison, one of the founders, became very wealthy. When he passed away in San Francisco in 1896, he was well-known in business circles in both the United States and Europe. He was known for being generous with credit to smaller businesses, which helped him succeed greatly. For many years, he had homes in both Hamburg, Germany, and San Francisco, California. He hosted grand parties in both places. His wife and three children lived in Germany, so his son, Louis Oscar Levison, grew up in Europe. Louis Oscar later became a partner in the company after his father's death.
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The Levison Brothers Building
The main building for Levison Brothers / California Jewelry Co. was located at 132, 134, and 136 Sutter Street in San Francisco. The company partners themselves designed and built this impressive structure. According to a newspaper article from the Daily Alta California, it was a three-story building with a basement. It cost $130,000 in 1871, which was a huge amount of money back then! The building had all the machinery needed for gem cutting, and Mr. Cullen was the head of jewelry design. In 1871, the company imported goods worth $500,000 and manufactured items worth $300,000. Other businesses also rented space in the building. For example, W.K. Vanderslice & Co., famous silversmiths from San Francisco, started making fine sterling silver items there around 1873.
There is one old photograph of this building that you can find online. It shows the building from Sutter Street, but the "Levison Brothers" sign on the street has been removed from the image.
Key People in the Levison Family Business
Several members of the Levison family worked for Levison Brothers or California Jewelry Co.:
- Louis Levison (1827-1901): He was one of the two brothers who came from Germany and helped run the company as a partner.
- Herman Levison (1831-1896): He was the other brother and the main leader of the business. He also came from Germany and was a partner.
- Louis Oscar Levison (1870-1953): He was Herman Levison's son. He became a partner after his father passed away in 1896. He worked for the company even after it became a corporation in 1907, and stayed until it closed in 1935.
- Walter Herman Levison (1904-1997): He was Louis Oscar Levison's son. He worked as the company secretary from 1927 to 1929 and continued with the company until it closed in 1935.
It's important to know that some other people named "Levison" sold goods during the gold rush in the Sacramento area. However, they were not related to the Levison family who ran the California Jewelry Co. in San Francisco. It was just a coincidence that their names were similar.
How the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Affected Levison Brothers
The business was doing very well when a huge disaster struck in 1906. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire completely destroyed the Levison-built building at 132, 134, and 136 Sutter Street. The only things that survived were the diamonds and jewelry stored inside a very large safe. This safe was so heavy that it fell three floors through the burning building! It landed in the basement, stuck between some steel beams it had pulled down.
The safe was badly burned by the fire. People had to wait two weeks for it to cool down before anyone could even touch it. After a lot of digging, they finally opened a pit around the safe so they could open its door. Everyone was very excited! The inner doors of the safe had stayed shut, and they found the valuable contents completely unharmed. The Levisons quickly moved the precious items to a safe place. They transported them across San Francisco Bay by boat (because there were no bridges yet!) to a family home on Beach Road, Belvedere Island, California, and another spot in Mill Valley, California. That old Victorian house on Belvedere Island is still there today as a historic building.
See also
- California gold coinage
- Fractional currency (United States)
- History of San Francisco
