3. Tiffany’s is older than Italy
The little blue boxes which mark the bearer as presenting a gift from Tiffany’s are usually a welcome sight and a clear indication of the good taste of the presenter. They also indicate a certain level of financial achievement. Tiffany’s developed its reputation as one of the world’s premier jewelers beginning in 1837, one of the first New York merchants to place price tags on individual items, to avoid dickering over the cost. The store also developed a reputation for refusing to extend credit or payment terms for its merchandise. A little known fact is that the famed NY logo of the New York Yankees was created by Tiffany’s in 1877, though for a police badge. The Yankees adopted the design as their logo in 1909 when they were known by the name Highlanders. Nearby Tiffany’s another New York icon – Macy’s – opened its doors in 1858.
Italy, on the other hand, didn’t exist in 1858, and in the form, it is known today not for many years later. The capital of Italy – Rome – did not acquire that status formally until 1871. Until the reorganization and unification of the 19th century, Italy was a collection of rival city-states and provinces, a target for the competing European empirical factions of France, Austria, Spain, and Germany. Thus the European nation most closely linked to antiquity by the western world through the ruins of the Roman Empire is in actuality younger than two American icons of capitalism and consumption. The Italians celebrate the birth of the nation of Italy as occurring in 1861, though it was a decade later that Rome was accepted as the capital. As of 2017, eleven Tiffany stores were in operation in the nation which it predates by more than two decades.