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Louis Comfort Tiffany, head man almost until his death in 1933, intensified his father's love for privacy. When the 37th Street store was built in 1905, Tiffany avoided telling anything about his business even to a banker. He paid $2,000,000 cash for the land, $2,000,000 cash for the building. To this day Tiffany & Co. has never published a financial report. Extremely inactive, the closely held stock sometimes does not change hands for years. Last known sale: three shares last summer at $465 a share. But in a 1932 lawsuit Tiffany & Co. reluctantly said sales in the preceding 40 years were $350,000,000. Fellow tradesmen put boom-year gross at $20,000,000. much less today. Present seneschal of Tiffany tradition is six-foot, grey-haired John Chandler Moore, whose grandfather was vice president under the first Tiffany. To friends, John Chandler is a kindly, dignified gentleman who wears high, stiff collars, tightly knotted ties. His weakness: he loves horses. To employes he is aloof, diamond-hard, almost a myth in an upstairs office. In best Tiffany style John Chandler does not tell Who's Who his age. Exact number of his employes is also secret (in the '20s it was well over 1,000). For many years, the old Tiffany's did not even have its name over its own door.
Most Tiffany employes have grown up with the company, revere its name like the family Bible. About half the staff has served more than 25 years. Most start as office boys for five years, then spend ten or more as general clerks, acquiring a knowledge of stones. By the time an office boy becomes a salesman, he is usually bald or grey-haired. Top-notch men get $150 a week; some also get ⅜ of 1% commission. All must wear dark suits, conservative ties, white collars, black shoes.
Careerists, Tiffany men seldom quit. But there are three sure ways to get fired. One is to sell (or give away) a Tiffany box to a non-purchaser. Another is to fight with an old customer. The third is to steal. About once in ten years an employe is caught stealing. But Tiffany's never prosecutes. Instead the wrongdoer is quietly escorted out the rear door, warned never to try the jewelry business again.