Founders include Robert W. De Forest, James Speyer, Otto T. Bannard, J. P. Morgan, Jacob H. Schiff, August Belmont, Jr. and Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
[3] In an uncertain economic environment amid foreclosures and bank failures, people sought cash from unregulated loan sharks and pawnbrokers.
[5] The contributors included Solomon Loeb, Alfred B. Mason, J. P. Morgan, Gustav Schwab, Jacob H. Schiff, James Speyer, Seth Low and Cornelius Vanderbilt II, among others.
Unlike the New York society, which remains a not-for-profit organization, the San Francisco association is now family-owned and operated.
In 2012, 66 Mint, an estate-jewelry business, was added, and a "Silicon Valley Diamond and Jewelry Buyers" location in Menlo Park, California was opened.