Price range: £295

See lower third image of key

For sale is this rare Birmingham Guild silver ceremonial key, with hallmarks for London 1938/9.

The key is engraved with the name of the St Pancras (now Camden) Council building it was intended for, together with the opening date:

Camelot House: This residential building was built in 1939 and stands on Camden Park Road, Camden, London. Dated 7th September 1939. The key is hallmarked for London 1938 with the date 1939 formed in a square within the finial fretwork.

The architect for the building was Albert John Thomas (1876-1964-see images, shown at the foundation stone ceremony of St Pancras Town Hall).  He was a highly regarded architect most noted for spending much of his career as the senior assistant architect for the mighty Sir Edwin Lutyens (1902-32).  Thomas must have got to know the Birmingham Guild when working for Lutyens who gave the Guild a number of important commissions.  The Guild made the “staircase ballustrades, railings and bronze doors” [original published list of contractors] for St Pancras Town Hall and no doubt for the other two buildings also, and would therefore have been a natural choice to design and make the ceremonial keys.

The designer of the key is not known but stylistically would point to Llewelyn Roberts, the Birmingham Guild’s lead designer for most of the inter war period, most famed for his design of the Selfridge’s lift interiors.

Tony Peart has recently published in the Decorative Art Society Journal volume 44, an article on the history of the Birmingham Guild.  By the late 1930’s the Guild was a fairly commercial outfit focussed on architectural metalwork, and by September 1939 was already gearing up for the war effort. Silver by the Guild from this period seems to be incredibly rare.  I have never seen (or heard of!) the London mark on the two later keys.

Condition of thekey is excellent, as is the gauge.

Maker: Birmingham Guild [of Handicraft] Ltd

Designer: Llewelyn Roberts (attributed)

Date: 1938/9

Marks: B.G. Ltd, London, D

Material: Sterling silver

Condition: Excellent

Size:  13.25 cm long

Weight:  1.7 oz, 45 grams