It all started in downtown New York City in 1922. Luigi D'Andrea, a Neapolitan vacuum cleaner salesman, happened upon a sidewalk sale. He bought some sheets of tortoise shell colored cellulose nitrate plastic and mallet dies that were used to make little heart shaped decorations for the tops of powder puff boxes. He punched out a few hundred of the little 1`` flat hearts on his kitchen table. When his young son Anthony observed that the hearts resembled an uncle's tortoise shell mandolin pick it gave Luigi an idea. A few days later, he sold a cigar box of the little hearts to the G. Schirmer & Son Company, a New York music store, for the amazing sum of $10. He knew he had something to build on here so he started a small factory on 27th street in NYC.