Polak-Brook Jewellers styled themselves as ‘la plus ancienne maison d’Ostende‘. Their shop was at 30 Rampe de Flandre (now Vlaanderenstraat) , Ostende and from an advert in Le Gaulois on 30th Jul 1896 there were also shops at 24 Rue Lafayette Paris and 104, Marche aux Herbes, Brussels.

Who were Polak-Brook? I believe it was Abraham Meyer Polak and his wife Gertrude Brook.

Abraham died in 1895, a year before this advert:

Looking at the addresses on the advert, 104 Marche aux Herbes is familiar, Leopold Lacloche was there in 1890 when he married Helene Polak, daughter of Polak-Brook.

My good friend Jan Bousse was able to check the local directories and although not every year is available he found Polak – Brook, at the same addres in 1889, 1892 and 1897.

It seems that Polak aine (elder) took over from his father when he died and continued to run the Polak-Brook business, at least up to 1901 as in 1901 Gompers & Polak aine, jewellers was formed, 28 Place Vendome, Paris with branches in Nice and Oostende.