Krementz & Company was founded in 1866 in Newark, New Jersey and continued in business until 1997. This company's earliest success was with the Krementz one-piece collar button in 1884. They expanded into a full line of men's and women's jewelry, including 14K gold, diamond, and platinum pieces. Krementz costume jewelry was always produced with the same attention to detail and quality as their fine jewelry pieces. During the 1950s, Krementz specialized in "real look" jewelry thickly plated in 14K gold which they claimed was nearly indistinguishable from fine jewelry. Krementz jewelry was never inexpensive, a feature which they emphasized in their advertising, claiming that the "special pride" which you would feel when wearing or giving it more than justified the extra price.