Mellerio, the jeweller on the rue de la Paix since 1613

Mellerio, the jewellery house on the rue de la Paix, traces its origins to 10 October 1613, when Marie de’ Medici granted the pedlars of three villages of the Val Vigezzo, Craveggia, Malesco and Villette, the right to trade freely throughout the kingdom. Jean Mellerio was one of the three consuls who represented them.

Legend has it that in 1777 the young Jean-Baptiste Mellerio sold a few jewels to Marie-Antoinette outside the gates of Versailles. In 1815 the house moved to the rue de la Paix, as the street was cut. It worked for Napoleon, the Empress Joséphine, Pauline Borghese and Caroline Murat, and later for the Empress Eugénie.

For the Exposition Universelle of 1867, Mellerio made a platinum tiara, bought by Queen Isabella II of Spain and still worn by the royal family. The house has made the Ballon d’Or since 1956 and created the Coupe des Mousquetaires for Roland-Garros in 1981. Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, the fourteenth generation, leads it today.

Where the rue de la Paix runs on from the place Vendôme, in the 2nd arrondissement, the shop presents the house’s jewellery. Mellerio belongs to the Comité Colbert and to Les Hénokiens, a club of bicentenary family firms.