RETAIL TRADE: Bargains at Tiffany's

With no louder fanfare than a polite clearing of its throat, Manhattan's Tiffany & Co. last week conducted a bargain sale, the first in its 118-year history not occasioned by a move to new quarters. Behind the sale was a change in policy brought on at stiff-backed Tiffany's by Board Chairman Walter Hoving, whose Hoving Corp. bought control of the firm in August (TIME, Aug. 29). There was also a merchandiser's desire to get rid of $340,000 worth of china and glassware that was not moving, along with items of jewelry and leather goods. Among the bargains: a silver tea set that had been on the shelves for more than ten years, cut from $12,500 to $6,000; a gold compact, from $2,375 to $1,500; a diamond-studded emerald brooch, with a stone that was once part of a Turkish sultan's belt buckle, from $36,300 to $29,700.

The sale was a success. All 265 half-price handbags went in two days. By week's end, more than one-third of the $340,000 worth of china and glass was gone. But the high-priced jewelry was still awaiting takers. On Saturday, black-suited doormen counted 2,400 customers, more than on any October day before.

In the midst of the sale, 65-year-old President Louis de B. Moore retired after 44 years with the company. Into his place stepped Executive Vice President William Thompson Lusk, 54, great-grandson of Founder Tiffany. Lusk, born in Manhattan, went to Groton and Yale ('24), was coxswain on the Yale freshman crew and president of the dramatic society, once played daughter Goneril in King Lear. After college he started at Tiffany's as a clerk, worked his way steadily up to executive vice president in 1952.