When I left the military back in 2011, I said that if I received an official invitation back to a regimental event, I would return bearing gifts!
A short time ago, the regimental sergeant major and drill sergeant of the First Battalion Grenadier Guards invited me to attend both the formal daytime event and an evening function for all officers and sergeants at Lille Barracks in Aldershot.
Following receipt of the invitation, I set about contacting and utilising our trade links in both Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and the Silver Vaults in London’s Chancery Lane to see if any dealers could find me suitable presentation gifts.
The first presentation came via a customer who brought a commemorative silver salver in to us. This was a boxed limited-edition silver salver commissioned by Christopher Lawrence for the Royal Mint to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The salver is one of only 150 ever produced and back in 1999 had a purchase price of £1,395. Ours came with the original invoice and all the associated documentation still within the box and unopened. As the Grenadier Guards are the only British regiment to gain their name directly from a battle, I thought this was a small, appropriate gift to present.
The next item was an absolute gem of a find. I received a call from one of the country’s most prolific silver dealers, who informed me that he had obtained a silver box that would be ‘right up my street’.
I set out for London at the earliest opportunity and on arrival I was given the provenance of the object with a connection to King Edward VIII.
I was immediately interested and we both thought it would make an amazing gift for the Grenadier Guards, as King Edward VIII served as a young officer during the Great War, winning a Military Cross in the process. The silver box was privately commissioned directly by the new king through the crown jewellers Carrington’s on Regent Street.
The box has the royal crest hand engraved on the lid in the area of where the traditional cartouche would be. The area on the front opening of the lid, referred to as the presentation plate, is hand engraved ‘Presented by His Majesty King Edward VIII’.