Fred Brodegaard Jewelry Co. Bronze Candle Holder, Embossed
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:31065624 | Type: Candle Holders |
Fred Brodegaard
Fred Brodegaard, an Omaha jeweler whose life history is an interesting one because of the spirit that has actuated him and in the course of years has brought him substantial success, has been connected with the commercial interests of this city for many years. In fact the Omaha of today bears little resemblance to the western frontier town to which he came many years ago. He was born in Assens, a town on one of the larger islands of Denmark, where manners and customs... have largely remained fixed in the midst of the onward march of civilization, where invention has been looked upon somewhat with suspicion, but where thoroughness and efficiency in old, time tried methods have produced most capable and competent workmen. His father was a painstaking and masterly watchmaker whose capability and responsibility were widely recognized by his fellowmen, and from a very early age Fred Brodegaard manifested a deep interest in his father's work, an interest which led the father to equip a bench for the boy when he was but twelve years of age, and there he spent many hours working at the trade when other boys of the neighborhood were at play. He was a youth of fourteen when he entered upon a regular apprenticeship, which included the repairing of clocks, also the work of keeping the display stock regulated and in time work in connection with the finer art of repairing all kinds of watches and jewelry. The hours were long and he was kept closely at the bench, but he thoroughly mastered the trade, developing that great thoroughness for which his father was noted. He also acknowledges, too, much indebtedness to his mother, whom he regards as the real head of the business, while the father took care of the mechanical end of it. His mother was a farsighted and sagacious business woman who recognized that some one must care for the financial interests while the father was doing the excellent work for which his name became a synonym. After the custom of the time, she was also a splendid housewife, but more than that, she instructed her children in such a manner as to implant in them principles which have been active factors in guiding their lives along the lines of upright and honorable manhood and womanhood.
When eighteen years of age Fred Brodegaard had completed his apprenticeship by making in every part a lady's miniature watch that had to be judged by a committee of watchmakers, his future standing with the profession resting upon its quality. It not only passed muster but was highly commended by the inspectors. Now being perfectly able to earn his own living, he went to Copenhagen and afterward walked through Germany to Switzerland, working here and there as his funds needed replenishing. After a brief period spent in the land of the Alps he started for America on an English steamer with a little luggage including some necessary clothing, a set of fine tools for watchmaking and jewelry repairing and a purse that did not contain over ten dollars in American money. The voyage proved a pleasant one, during which he met some interesting people, and on a beautiful spring evening in the early '80s he landed in New York. From the eastern metropolis he made his way westward to Chicago in company with a friend and started out at once to seek work. He found it on the second day, at which time he was introduced to American customs. Applying for a job, the proprietor without a word took him into a neat and spacious working room and pointed to a bench, to which he brought a tray full of watches to be repaired and then turned without saying anything. The difference in customs was to Mr. Brodegaard most marked, for in Europe when a man entered a shop it was always an occasion for a few pleasant remarks between the newcomer and the proprietor, with a welcome from his fellow workmen and a discussion concerning the business and methods. He saw that the workmen here gave every moment to their task and he felt that he was working to the limit, but at the end of the second day he was given his pay and told that he was discharged. Indignant and angry at such treatment, he asked if his work was not all right. The proprietor smiled in a tantalizing way and after considerable deliberation admitted that the work was good, whereupon Mr. Brodegaard demanded to know what was the matter and at length received this answer: "The exact reason is that I pay a hundred dollars in rent each month for these rooms. The bench you have been working at stands on a spot that costs me a certain sum every day, and I have to have a man at that desk who can help me in getting the biggest return on the investment. What you need, young man, is more speed." It was his first lesson in American methods and demands. He left the shop and upon his return to his boarding place found that his friend and roommate had a similar experience. The next morning he started out to seek employment anew and it was after some time that a fellow countryman took him into a little jewelry shop where he earned scarcely more than a bare living; but while there he learned the lesson that in America the road to success is only open to the man who works at full speed while turning out the best possible work. He also learned the use of new tools, with which he had been unacquainted in his own country, and day by day his speed in work increased. After two months he again started out to find employment, if possible, in the big shops of the city and one morning took courage to walk into the office where he had first been employed. The proprietor was then out of town and the foreman, who did not know Mr. Brodegaard, employed him and set him at work at the same bench where he had his first two days' experience in American business methods. A few days later the proprietor returned and recognized the new workman as he passed through the shop. Later he came to his desk and looked over his work slip, stood a little while, stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled and then walked away. During the next year Mr. Brodegaard worked steadily in that place and during more than six months was the highest man on the weekly pay roll. When he finally decided to leave his employer offered him the foremanship of an auxiliary shop which he was opening in another part of the city.
It was Mr. Brodegaard's desire, however, to engage in business on his own account and, realizing that he did not have sufficient capital to start in business in Chicago, he determined to try his fortune in the west and in the spring of 1884 arrived in Omaha. He saw indications of an enterprising and growing western city and secured employment with a jeweler on South Tenth street, not far from the depot. He soon learned that his employer wished to sell out and he became the purchaser of the business. He then set to work to build up a trade. He recognized the value of advertising, especially in the way of building up a mail order business, but he had not the funds for this. He was awake, however, to every opportunity. He had his work bench in the back part of his shop and noticed that the boys on their way to and from school were greatly interested in what he was doing. This suggested to him an idea that grown people might also be interested. Accordingly he had the background of one of his show windows enameled white and placed his work bench therein, while on the desk he put a marine chronometer with a little sign, "The Right Time." His store was near the depot and people on the way to the train would stop to see if their watches were running right. This drew their attention to his work, and from time to time someone would stop in to have a watch repaired and, looking over his stock, would perhaps make a purchase. Thus his trade gradually developed and in time he became an advertiser in the Danish Pioneer, a weekly newspaper of national scope. The result was that he began developing a good mail order business and he made it ever his business to carry goods of the highest grade and most excellent workmanship. In a comparatively few years his mail order trade overtopped that of any other house in Omaha and he was sending watches from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to Tacoma, Washington, and even had customers in Cuba and Hawaii. His fellow countrymen, too, were buying watches to send back to relatives in Denmark and in this way he was perhaps instrumental in introducing the standard American movement into Europe. Another feature of his success was his social nature. He chatted with everyone on the street and people came to know him. As his acquaintance widened his trade grew. In time he recognized the fact that if he did not wish to remain a small jeweler on Tenth street he would have to establish a store in that section toward which the business center of the city was growing. A removal therefore was made to Sixteenth street and in the intervening period his business has grown by leaps and bounds. He was offered the watch inspectorship of the great Union Pacific Railroad system and he also had the inspectorship for the Chicago, St. Paul, Missouri & Omaha Railroad. Since 1904 he has occupied a position in the front ranks among the jewelers of Omaha. He offered a prize for the best name to associate with his firm name and several people in competition suggested the word "Crown." This he adopted and the word "Crown" has become a synonym for standard activities in the jewelry trade. He has always followed a plan of judicious advertising through the papers and in other ways. His original methods are indicated somewhat in the fact that on one occasion he offered a prize for the correct guess of his weight. To participate, people had to take a good look at him and his store was daily filled with ladies and gentlemen. It was a good advertisement. They saw his stock and many of them became regular patrons. As the years have gone on he has extended his trade into various centers by establishing branch houses or branch departments in already established stores, and thus his trade relations reach out over a very broad territory and bring him a gratifying annual income.
It is said that all men have a hobby. Mr. Brodegaard's is perhaps his country home. He was married in 1906 to Miss Mary Nordin and they have two children, Anna Marie and Robert. Their home stands in the midst of a few lots just outside the city limits which Mr. Brodegaard purchased some years ago, and there he carries on farming. He has a windmill to pump the water from his own well, a little orchard and a garden that furnishes fresh fruit and vegetables, and before the store opens in the morning and after it closes at night he may be seen at work about his place, taking the deepest interest in all that is connected with its development and improvement. He feels perhaps that the most momentous step of his life was made when he decided to come to the new world, for in its opportunities he has found a field ripe for action, and year by year he has worked upward, making each step in his career a forward one, maintaining ever the principles of honor and industry which were instilled into him in his old home in Denmark and adding thereto the progressive methods of American business life.
Fred Brodegaard Jewelry Co. Bronze Candle Holder, Embossed. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.
Fred Brodegaard, an Omaha jeweler whose life history is an interesting one because of the spirit that has actuated him and in the course of years has brought him substantial success, has been connected with the commercial interests of this city for many years. In fact the Omaha of today bears little resemblance to the western frontier town to which he came many years ago. He was born in Assens, a town on one of the larger islands of Denmark, where manners and customs... have largely remained fixed in the midst of the onward march of civilization, where invention has been looked upon somewhat with suspicion, but where thoroughness and efficiency in old, time tried methods have produced most capable and competent workmen. His father was a painstaking and masterly watchmaker whose capability and responsibility were widely recognized by his fellowmen, and from a very early age Fred Brodegaard manifested a deep interest in his father's work, an interest which led the father to equip a bench for the boy when he was but twelve years of age, and there he spent many hours working at the trade when other boys of the neighborhood were at play. He was a youth of fourteen when he entered upon a regular apprenticeship, which included the repairing of clocks, also the work of keeping the display stock regulated and in time work in connection with the finer art of repairing all kinds of watches and jewelry. The hours were long and he was kept closely at the bench, but he thoroughly mastered the trade, developing that great thoroughness for which his father was noted. He also acknowledges, too, much indebtedness to his mother, whom he regards as the real head of the business, while the father took care of the mechanical end of it. His mother was a farsighted and sagacious business woman who recognized that some one must care for the financial interests while the father was doing the excellent work for which his name became a synonym. After the custom of the time, she was also a splendid housewife, but more than that, she instructed her children in such a manner as to implant in them principles which have been active factors in guiding their lives along the lines of upright and honorable manhood and womanhood.
When eighteen years of age Fred Brodegaard had completed his apprenticeship by making in every part a lady's miniature watch that had to be judged by a committee of watchmakers, his future standing with the profession resting upon its quality. It not only passed muster but was highly commended by the inspectors. Now being perfectly able to earn his own living, he went to Copenhagen and afterward walked through Germany to Switzerland, working here and there as his funds needed replenishing. After a brief period spent in the land of the Alps he started for America on an English steamer with a little luggage including some necessary clothing, a set of fine tools for watchmaking and jewelry repairing and a purse that did not contain over ten dollars in American money. The voyage proved a pleasant one, during which he met some interesting people, and on a beautiful spring evening in the early '80s he landed in New York. From the eastern metropolis he made his way westward to Chicago in company with a friend and started out at once to seek work. He found it on the second day, at which time he was introduced to American customs. Applying for a job, the proprietor without a word took him into a neat and spacious working room and pointed to a bench, to which he brought a tray full of watches to be repaired and then turned without saying anything. The difference in customs was to Mr. Brodegaard most marked, for in Europe when a man entered a shop it was always an occasion for a few pleasant remarks between the newcomer and the proprietor, with a welcome from his fellow workmen and a discussion concerning the business and methods. He saw that the workmen here gave every moment to their task and he felt that he was working to the limit, but at the end of the second day he was given his pay and told that he was discharged. Indignant and angry at such treatment, he asked if his work was not all right. The proprietor smiled in a tantalizing way and after considerable deliberation admitted that the work was good, whereupon Mr. Brodegaard demanded to know what was the matter and at length received this answer: "The exact reason is that I pay a hundred dollars in rent each month for these rooms. The bench you have been working at stands on a spot that costs me a certain sum every day, and I have to have a man at that desk who can help me in getting the biggest return on the investment. What you need, young man, is more speed." It was his first lesson in American methods and demands. He left the shop and upon his return to his boarding place found that his friend and roommate had a similar experience. The next morning he started out to seek employment anew and it was after some time that a fellow countryman took him into a little jewelry shop where he earned scarcely more than a bare living; but while there he learned the lesson that in America the road to success is only open to the man who works at full speed while turning out the best possible work. He also learned the use of new tools, with which he had been unacquainted in his own country, and day by day his speed in work increased. After two months he again started out to find employment, if possible, in the big shops of the city and one morning took courage to walk into the office where he had first been employed. The proprietor was then out of town and the foreman, who did not know Mr. Brodegaard, employed him and set him at work at the same bench where he had his first two days' experience in American business methods. A few days later the proprietor returned and recognized the new workman as he passed through the shop. Later he came to his desk and looked over his work slip, stood a little while, stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled and then walked away. During the next year Mr. Brodegaard worked steadily in that place and during more than six months was the highest man on the weekly pay roll. When he finally decided to leave his employer offered him the foremanship of an auxiliary shop which he was opening in another part of the city.
It was Mr. Brodegaard's desire, however, to engage in business on his own account and, realizing that he did not have sufficient capital to start in business in Chicago, he determined to try his fortune in the west and in the spring of 1884 arrived in Omaha. He saw indications of an enterprising and growing western city and secured employment with a jeweler on South Tenth street, not far from the depot. He soon learned that his employer wished to sell out and he became the purchaser of the business. He then set to work to build up a trade. He recognized the value of advertising, especially in the way of building up a mail order business, but he had not the funds for this. He was awake, however, to every opportunity. He had his work bench in the back part of his shop and noticed that the boys on their way to and from school were greatly interested in what he was doing. This suggested to him an idea that grown people might also be interested. Accordingly he had the background of one of his show windows enameled white and placed his work bench therein, while on the desk he put a marine chronometer with a little sign, "The Right Time." His store was near the depot and people on the way to the train would stop to see if their watches were running right. This drew their attention to his work, and from time to time someone would stop in to have a watch repaired and, looking over his stock, would perhaps make a purchase. Thus his trade gradually developed and in time he became an advertiser in the Danish Pioneer, a weekly newspaper of national scope. The result was that he began developing a good mail order business and he made it ever his business to carry goods of the highest grade and most excellent workmanship. In a comparatively few years his mail order trade overtopped that of any other house in Omaha and he was sending watches from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to Tacoma, Washington, and even had customers in Cuba and Hawaii. His fellow countrymen, too, were buying watches to send back to relatives in Denmark and in this way he was perhaps instrumental in introducing the standard American movement into Europe. Another feature of his success was his social nature. He chatted with everyone on the street and people came to know him. As his acquaintance widened his trade grew. In time he recognized the fact that if he did not wish to remain a small jeweler on Tenth street he would have to establish a store in that section toward which the business center of the city was growing. A removal therefore was made to Sixteenth street and in the intervening period his business has grown by leaps and bounds. He was offered the watch inspectorship of the great Union Pacific Railroad system and he also had the inspectorship for the Chicago, St. Paul, Missouri & Omaha Railroad. Since 1904 he has occupied a position in the front ranks among the jewelers of Omaha. He offered a prize for the best name to associate with his firm name and several people in competition suggested the word "Crown." This he adopted and the word "Crown" has become a synonym for standard activities in the jewelry trade. He has always followed a plan of judicious advertising through the papers and in other ways. His original methods are indicated somewhat in the fact that on one occasion he offered a prize for the correct guess of his weight. To participate, people had to take a good look at him and his store was daily filled with ladies and gentlemen. It was a good advertisement. They saw his stock and many of them became regular patrons. As the years have gone on he has extended his trade into various centers by establishing branch houses or branch departments in already established stores, and thus his trade relations reach out over a very broad territory and bring him a gratifying annual income.
It is said that all men have a hobby. Mr. Brodegaard's is perhaps his country home. He was married in 1906 to Miss Mary Nordin and they have two children, Anna Marie and Robert. Their home stands in the midst of a few lots just outside the city limits which Mr. Brodegaard purchased some years ago, and there he carries on farming. He has a windmill to pump the water from his own well, a little orchard and a garden that furnishes fresh fruit and vegetables, and before the store opens in the morning and after it closes at night he may be seen at work about his place, taking the deepest interest in all that is connected with its development and improvement. He feels perhaps that the most momentous step of his life was made when he decided to come to the new world, for in its opportunities he has found a field ripe for action, and year by year he has worked upward, making each step in his career a forward one, maintaining ever the principles of honor and industry which were instilled into him in his old home in Denmark and adding thereto the progressive methods of American business life.
Fred Brodegaard Jewelry Co. Bronze Candle Holder, Embossed. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.
