Belais
Belais Manufacturing was founded by David Belais (1863 – June 5, 1933) around the turn of the century in New York City. They started out as manufacturing jewelers and were one of the first companies to work in white gold in the United States. They experimented and created various alloys of white gold to be used as substitutes for platinum. David Belais presented one such formula to the jewelry industry in 1917 and in October (5th) 1918 a patent was applied for with the United States government. Just two years later on February 10 1920 the patent was granted for an 18 karat white gold alloy which allowed the use of white metal in jewelry as platinum was restricted due to the war effort. The new alloy was marketed greatly and became very popular. The marketing of the metal even pushed jewelers began to advertise that they sold 18k Belais even though Belais was not the first to invent or patent a white gold alloy. In fact a patent was granted to Karl Richter of Pforzheim on December 28, 1915 and was applied for two years earlier in April of 1913 however because of the war not much attention was paid to the patent. As Belais grew in popularity the company grew and other companies began to take notice they saw the rapid growth and began to copy the work. Belais manufacturing brought suit for patent infringement against one such company Goldsmith Bros. Smelting & Refining Co. in New York in June of 1925. They claimed that Goldsmith was copying the formula however the Judge presiding over the case struck down the Belais Patent shocking the jewelry industry. The patent was struct down as white gold, in other alloys (such as 10 karat and 14 karat) had been used for a few years prior to the Belais formula. The judge basically told the jewelry industry that white gold was, effectively white gold. With the striking down of the patent the door was open for many other firms to begin to use white gold. The Belais name however continued to do business as David was the head of the jewelers manufacturing association as well as the 24 karat club. David passed away in 1933 leaving the Belais name behind.
