Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 179

Price Realized: $ 1,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(NEW YORK CITY.) Ledger for the leading Broadway jewelers, Ball, Black & Co. 313 manuscript pages in red and black (including a few blanks). 4to, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, original 1/2 calf with gilt label on front board reading "William Black, Firm of Ball Black & Co., New York," rubbed at extremities but remaining handsome and sturdy. New York, 1855-1865
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Additional Details

This jewelry firm had roots in New York going back to 1810, and became Ball, Black & Co. in 1851. The showroom they built in 1860, with plate glass windows and a massive underground vault, still stands on Broadway today. They were the leading jewelers in New York, with an elite clientele, until gradually passed by the upstarts of Tiffany & Co. in the 1860s. The firm was dissolved in 1873 after the death of partner William Black (1806-1873).

This tidy general ledger summarizes the firm's profits and losses at the peak of their fame. A long note on page 59 discusses the expiration and renewal of their lease in 1858, followed by the sale of the remaining lease in 1860 when they moved to the new headquarters. Expense accounts on pages 114 to 115 give a hint of the store's life, including total money spent on "Dog, alcohol, & chamois skins," "New Years presents and refreshments", "Cable celebration, Aug 1858" (for the transatlantic cable), and "6 red morocco chairs for store." The firm's staff appear to be listed on pages 116-117. Individual customers are not listed except in a long section on "Bad Debts" from pages 146 to 162, several of them marked as dead. Five annual summaries of stock in hand are broken down into "silver ware," "diamond jewelry, "watches & movements," "cutlery," and other categories on pages 184-188. A monthly summary of merchandise purchases and sales appears on pages 222-235. Their lease of the land at 565 Broadway in 1859-1860, including their detailed commitment to erect a new building on the site, followed by the building expenses for the new store, are recorded on pages 260-275.

The bulk of the volume covers the 1855-1860 period. The Civil War occasionally intrudes into the later entries. The firm's "Military Department" recorded a profit of $1187 in 1863 (page 301), and they presented $5000 to the United States Sanitary Fair in February 1864 (page 302). On 28 March 1865, weeks before the end of the fighting, Black pays "Orison Blunt for Substitute, U.S. Army, $1000"--presumably on behalf of a son (page 282).

The ledger appears to be written in one sitting in a precise secretarial hand, rather than by a team of clerks over the course of several years. Judging by the label on the front board, it may be a manuscript copy of the firm's accounts made for the personal use of founding partner William Black. His own expenses are recorded in great detail (boots, newspaper subscriptions, purchases of individual pieces from the firm, even 31 cents for washing), while the accounts of partners Henry Ball and Ebenezer Monroe only summarize their dividends and profits. A balance in favor of Ball for $316,751.90 is recorded for March 1865--the firm was doing well.

A detailed inside look into what was once one of New York's great luxury establishments.