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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="25c785a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Joseph Falkenstein Inc</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Joseph Falkenstein Inc"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>About Us</B>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Online Catalog"><U>Online Catalog</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Latest Fancy Cuts"><U>Latest Fancy Cuts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Weekly Gemstones Specials"><U>Weekly Gemstones Specials</U></A>   |   <A HREF="online_store.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shop Online"><U>Shop Online</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pay Your Bills Online Save"><U>Pay Your Bills Online & Save</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Open Account Request Catalog"><U>Open Account & Request Catalog</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Location"><U>Our Location</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News and Events"><U>News and Events</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Holiday Schedule"><U>Holiday Schedule</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recommended Vendor List"><U>Recommended Vendor List</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQ"><U>FAQ</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Webmail"><U>Webmail</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id134.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wall Of Shame"><U>Wall Of Shame</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="25dd2b03.jpg"> <div>  <img src="HTMLobj-403/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="161" height="90">  </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>About Us</I></div> <div> <B>JOSEPH FALKENSTEIN INC.</B></div> <bR> <div> "Call any time, we are a twenty-four hour business." Kenny Falkenstein tells a customer on the phone. Kenny does not believe this to be an exaggeration since someone is in the office usually from 7:00am until well after midnight. "It is hard to keep such long hours," Kenny says, "but it gives us an edge against our competition."</div> <bR> <div> Joseph Falkenstein Inc.  prides themselves on being a service oriented stone house. "We are in early in the morning to talk with our east-coast customers and stay late for our west-coast customers.," says Kenny.</div> <bR> <div> Joseph Falkenstein Inc. has grown into a full line stone house offering precious, semi-precious and synthetic stones. "When I began the company in 1965," recalls Joe. "We specialized in just the Natural Black Star Sapphire. I was the biggest in the industry. Then 15 years later, I introduced the buff top and cabochon synthetic stars, followed by Created Emerald, Genuine Onyx, and cubic zirconia."</div> <bR> <div> Jeff Falkenstein, Kenny's twin brother, explains how he and Kenny really expanded the business. "Customers kept calling us complaining about not receiving merchandise on time and not getting the quality expected from their other suppliers. They wondered if we could help. Slowly our customers pushed us into synthetic birthstones, smokey quartz, various other laboratory grown stones, cameos, masonics and much more."</div> <bR> <div> Today Jeff and Kenny joke with old customers telling them their father is now just a delivery boy and that they are the ones in charge. "I do not mind when they say to old friends in the industry that I no longer work," says Joe.</div> <div> "My customers know the hours I devoted to providing them with quality stones at the cheapest prices and now I can take longer vacations with my wife."</div> <bR> <div> Hedy Falkenstein, Joe's wife, recalls the early years when she would help with the workload. "It was not easy. We had three little children, a dog and we were both active in the community. Now the twins work in the business and we can both relax a little more."</div> <bR> <div> Article from July/August 1997 Supplier Section Loren Nugget</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>