A family house
Since 1912
Abdullah Khalaf left Palestine in the summer of 1912 and came through Ellis Island with very little money. He took jobs in New York until he could buy goods and open a store.
The store was in the Financial District. He sold furniture and women’s undergarments, and the business did well enough that he could retire to Palestine. He lived there with his family until the end of his life.
The road, then the Southwest
His son Tawfiq came back to America and made his living on the road in the Midwest, selling watches, jewelry, and other small goods to farmers and ranchers. He wanted the driving, and the talk at the end of a lane. The country reminded him of Palestine, where people tend olive trees as ordinary work. He wore a cowboy hat and kept a thick Arab accent, and customers grew fond of him. One of them, the family still says, bought him a Cadillac for Christmas.
Tawfiq died of cancer. In 1964 his sons made the same crossing: Jawad (Joe), Rafat (Ralph), Nashat (Nash), and Ismat (Bob). They went into jewelry, working with Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi artists, and opened stores with them in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.
Ralph’s son Alex was in those stores full-time from the age of 12. By 18 he was running them. A few months later, visiting family in Palestine, he met Fahima, a young Palestinian-American woman. They have always called it love at first sight. The engagement took three weeks.
1996
Gemstone globes
In April of that year their eldest son, RJ, was a week old. Alex and his uncle Bob flew to China and began designing gemstone globes, carved by hand. The globes, and the pieces that followed them, went into casinos and onto more than 120 cruise ships. Rami and Mohammad-Judeh were born in the years after, and then a daughter, Jannah.
Las Vegas
Fahima took on the stores, and the choosing of what the family would sell next. Fossils, minerals, crystals, and recycled metal art came in beside the globes, along with the Native American jewelry the brothers had sold in the Southwest. RJ, Rami, Mohammad-Judeh, and Jannah all work in the business.
Abdullah’s store was in the Financial District. The family’s shop is on the Las Vegas Strip.
From our family to yours
You are welcome here
We started as a family business, and we intend to keep it that way. Whether you spend $10 or $10,000, we are honored to serve you. We ship from Las Vegas. Shipping is free worldwide on orders over $99, and returns are accepted within 30 days.