Seaman Schepps Brooches
A scrappy, self-made artist who transformed turbo shells into decadent earrings and crystal chessmen into bold bracelets, Seaman Schepps (1881–1972) tirelessly worked his way up from the tenements of New York’s Lower East Side to become “America’s Court Jeweler.”
Born to immigrant parents who named him for the Seamen’s Bank for Savings that his mother could see from the hospital — or so the legend goes — Schepps dropped out of school at the age of 14 and never had any formal jewelry training. He later moved to California, where he opened his first jewelry shop in 1904. In 1921, he returned to New York to build on the success he’d begun to enjoy as a jeweler on the West Coast, but it wasn’t long before his Manhattan house, which counted Broadway stars and theater patrons among its clientele, was hit hard by the stock market crash of 1929. Schepps used this disruption to rethink his approach to jewelry, debuting a new store in 1934 on Madison Avenue, where he would make his mark in playful custom adornments.
While many high-end jewelers of his era focused on the purest and most valuable gemstones, Schepps chose his materials for their color and shape, elevating flawed stones others disregarded in collage-like formations involving unconventional materials such as fine wood, coral, seashells and flea-market finds. Passersby of his New York City shop could find a frog-shaped brooch carved from rosewood, a vintage snuff bottle broken into links for a bracelet and loose-drilled pearls plugged with diamonds. Schepps’s whimsical pieces found fans in fashion icons who appreciated his unique statements, including Doris Duke, Andy Warhol and the Duchess of Windsor.
Following Schepps’s death in 1972, his daughter, jewelry designer Patricia S. Vaill, ran the jewelry house for two decades before it was taken over by Jay Bauer and Anthony Hopenhajm of Trianon jewelry. Following the closure of the company’s Park Avenue store in November 2020, sales for Seaman Schepps is now based in its boutique location out of Palm Beach, Florida, where the legendary brand carries forth its founder’s spirited designs.
On 1stDibs, find a distinctive collection of vintage Seaman Schepps jewelry, including brooches, bracelets and other accessories.
1940s American Vintage Seaman Schepps Brooches
Coral, 14k Gold
Early 20th Century Unknown Art Deco Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, 14k Gold, Platinum
1960s American Retro Vintage Seaman Schepps Brooches
Blue Sapphire, 18k Gold
Mid-20th Century Art Deco Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, Platinum
Mid-20th Century Art Deco Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, Pearl, Ruby, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Seaman Schepps Brooches
Pearl, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s American Artisan Seaman Schepps Brooches
Tourmaline, Ruby, Sapphire, Pink Sapphire, Tsavorite, Diamond, White Dia...
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
Mid-20th Century Art Deco Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, Emerald, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Mid-20th Century Italian Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, 18k Gold
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond, Sapphire, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Art Nouveau Seaman Schepps Brooches
14k Gold, Yellow Gold
1920s Italian Art Deco Vintage Seaman Schepps Brooches
Diamond
1950s American Vintage Seaman Schepps Brooches
Pearl, Yellow Gold