Downeast Trading Company was founded in 1975 by Rick Winslow in Ogunquit, Maine in order to avoid full-time employment. At the time surfing was his first love. The company evolved from a hobby to a job to an obsession. Originally trading in turquoise, coral, heishe beads, silver, and stone, mostly out of the trunk of a Volkswagen bug, Downeast slowly transformed from a wholesaler of semi-precious stones, pearls, and findings, to an importer of Italian jewelry.

Our first buying trip overseas was in 1978, and, gradually, gold and silver chains demanded more attention than stones and pearls. We have seen the many ups and downs of the gold market, the $850 per ounce days of 1981, the rise and fall of quite a few “important” gold chain companies, and we remain a small but steady force in the industry, often selling the same items from the same suppliers that we did in 1979.

The name Downeast is a product of our origin in the state of Maine. The term was used in colonial times to describe the journey up the coast from the New England capitol in Boston. As ships progressed up the coast they would veer more and more towards the East. Typically, and particularly in the Summer, they would have the prevailing winds aft, so they would be sailing downwind. Thus, Maine became known as “downeast”.