Family secret time. According to my mom, since Heinrich died before I was born, he basically made what the dress-house designers were looking for at the time. Beyond that I don't really know. My dad also worked with the designers, but on a much smaller scale, then my grandfather. Also the designers deferred more to his ideas, than in my grandfather's time. He didn't sketch, but would lay out the stones at his work station, and "build" the piece. His engineer schooling coming out I guess. Mom said he had a huge encyclopedia of the world's royal jewels, both Europe, and Asia, that he would refer to. I don't remember ever seeing it, however. His ideas for flowers, bugs, and animals came right here from our little hobby farm. The poodle pin was modeled after our toy poodle, Jimmy. I said earlier that most stores had seasoned jewelry buyers, until the mid. to late 60s. These often gave great advice, since often something that sold well, in say, Texas, might not do as well in NYC. He also loved using the old, small, odd lots of stones that we acquired through the years. Some very old already when my grandfather bought them. Some ideas, I think came from his time in the military, like his Ruffle pin, and crosses, look like German medals from both world wars.. After he made up a sample, mom would wear it to see if it was wearable. This might reveal the need to move the pin, or earring base to lay right or be comfortable to wear all day.
