Seaman Schepps
Seaman Schepps (1881-1972) was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East side. He worked as a traveling salesman in jewelry and traveled the country until he went to Los Angeles which is where he decided to open his own store in 1904. He married and had two daughters, Virginia and Patricia. This is when he decided to relocate to San Francisco. After a short while he moved back to Los Angeles. They moved a final time to New York and Schepps opened his shop in 1921 on 6th Avenue. When the 1929 stock market crash hit he lost everything including the building he was building. In 1934 he finally was able to reopen this time on Madison Avenue. His new designs attracted the attention of fashion designers as well as the wealthiest families in America, the Rockerfellers and the Mellons. This put him in front of the fashion scene and magazines and newspapers featured Schepps frequently. Schepps retired from the business in 1969 and left it to his daughters. A few years later he passed away in 1972. Patricia Schepps Vaill ran the business and created jewels inspired by her father. The company has branches on Park Avenue in New York City, in Palm Beach, and Nantucket.
