Arthur King
Arthur Henry King was born in 1921 and left for his service in the Navy during World War II. King taught himself the lost art of wax casting and was completely self taught in that way. He started in base scrap metal, then moved to silver silver while overseas. After his discharge from the Navy Arthur King continued to develop his skills in jewelry. In the 1950s, he opened up his first shop on 4th Street in Greenwich Village New York selling mainly silver jewelry. As time passed he began crafting pieces in gold and the popularity of his pieces took off. His pieces were displayed in stores in Florida, Cuba, and Paris, as well as Fortnum and Mason in London. In 1962, he opened at 611 Madison Avenue. He did the design work on the store and featured wood and cork throughout the interior. His retail locations kept expanding as well at one point having 18 locations. King used all sorts of gems in his groundbreaking freeform styles. He rebelled against the classic and typical designs of the other houses. He focused on organic designs and organic gems mostly but works can be found with other gems as well. King was also a collector himself. From natural forms to the diverse ephemera he collected: 17th-Century surgical instruments; ancient locks and keys from old monasteries; wooden hands designed to keep vampires at bay; and a mastodon tooth circa 30,000 B.C. King also liked to focus on men's jewelry as many of the other brands did not. He once crafted a necklace using a 40-carat black diamond, which created quite a stir when it debuted in 1968. Lena Horne helped him finance the midtown store at 59th Street which was the staple and world headquarters.
