It all started in Providence with Seril Dodge, a clockmaker and silversmith from Pomfret, Conn., and his nephew Nehemiah Dodge. Seril’s shop, near the corner of North Main and Thomas Streets in Providence, was one of the first in Rhode Island to sell jewelry. When Seril returned to Pomfret in the late 1790s, he turned his shop over to Nehemiah, who invented a process for coating less expensive metals such as copper with gold and silver. The fashion jewelry industry was born.