One day in 1906 a writer for the The Sporting Times strolled into the London shop of The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Co Ltd (not to be confused with the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths), to buy some little silver and enamel boxes. These were meant for the guests to a Guy Fawkes supper party he was to host on 5 November at the famous Romano’s restaurant in the Strand.

His purchases secured, he was taken aside by a director of the shop who showed him a special order, recently completed by its Silver Department. It took the form of a miniature silver dining table, its silver ‘table cloth’ being engraved with facsimile signatures of the distinguished cast then playing at the Haymarket Theatre in a revival of F. Anstey‘s successful comedy, The Man from Blankley’s. This intriguing object, exactly the kind of piece at which The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Co’s craftsmen excelled, was about to be presented to the author, the table itself being a reference to the play’s climactic supper party scene.

And what of the Guy Fawkes night supper? Fun was had by all, we are told, and the little boxes were greatly appreciated by the lady guests, most of whom were young actresses. One in particular, ‘a dear little soul from La Belle France,’ was the fascinating Gaby Deslys, the soon-to-be grande passion, and recipient of showers of costly jewellery, of Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridge’s department store in Oxford Street, which this year celebrates its centenary.

See here for pieces by The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. currently listed at myfamilysilver.com

The cast of F. Anstey's The Man from Blankley's, revived at the Haymarket Theatre, London, 24 March 1906