Sidney F. Mobell (April 10, 1926 – November 4, 2022) was an American artist, jeweler, and philanthropist from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He owned Mobell Jewelry and was known for his designs of everyday objects made of gold and jewels. He lived in Hillsborough,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Biography

Sidney Mobell was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

on April 10, 1926, and starting in 1937 he was raised an orphan. Mobell eventually made his way to San Francisco and owned and operated several jewelry stores in the city until his retirement in 1995. In March 1996, Mobell Jewelry was sold to Shreve & Co.. Mobell was known for his transformation of ordinary, everyday items such as food cans and cellular phones into bejeweled pieces of art. Several of his works are housed in the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, including a $2,000,000 USD

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

set made of 23-carat gold, with rubies and sapphires atop the chimneys of the houses and hotels. It is the most expensive Monopoly set ever produced. Mobell was a guest on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

'', several times where he showcased his designs. He was also a donor to several healthcare causes. Mobell died in

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlinga ...

, on November 4, 2022, at the age of 96.

References

1926 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American jewellers Artists from San Francisco Jewish American artists People from Hillsborough, California {{US-artist-stub