Her vintage items are eagerly collected and the namesake company, which first displayed her jewelry in New York City's McAlpin Hotel, continues.

[1][2] Haskell was born on July 2, 1899, in Tell City, Indiana, a small town on the Ohio River, approximately 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Kentucky.

After high school in New Albany, where her Russian Jewish immigrant parents ran a dry-goods store, she studied for three years at Chicago University.

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.

[5] Miriam Haskell jewelry was worn for publicity shots, films, and personal use by movie stars Joan Crawford and Lucille Ball, as well as by Gloria Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Windsor.

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.