STERN, HANS

STERN, HANS (1922– ), Brazilian jeweler. Born in Essen, Germany, Stern immigrated to Brazil in 1939 with his family and settled in Rio de Janeiro. In 1940 he found work with a firm that exported Brazilian semiprecious stones such as tourmaline, topaz, and aquamarine, and he soon rose to the position of manager. In 1945 he sold his accordion for $200 and used the money to start his own jewelry business, H. Stern Comercio e Industria, to buy, polish, set, and sell such stones in original designs. Aided by his flair for aggressive and imaginative promotion, the company developed within a few years into Brazil's largest undertaking in the field. It had an annual volume of many millions of dollars and more than 200 stores in principal cities all over the world, earning Stern the title of "the king of colored gems." The company is owned today in equal shares by his sons: Roberto, Ronaldo, Ricardo, and Rafael. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. and K. Seegers, in: Reader's Digest (Jan. 1968), 203–8.