You will have seen that we often carry silver brooches designed by the English silversmith Ernest Blyth for the Leicester based jewellers Tarratt
A little while ago we had one of my favourite brooches that to me resembled an abstract star known as "Cortina". I was contacted by a man who wanted to buy it for his mother. Once we completed the sale he told me why he had bought it for her - she is the sister of the late Ernest Blyth and a fire had destroyed the pieces of Ernest's jewellery that she owned. You can imagine my delight to know that this brooch was "going home". I understand that it was a very emotional reunion as you can imagine. Anyway this conversation lead to Ernest's nephew sending me pictures of a Tarratt catalogue that he had featuring the brooch and other pieces designed by Ernest Blyth and other silversmiths. Looking through the catalogue I thought I recognised a pair of cufflinks also designed by Blyth that we had bought some time ago but had put away without checking the hallmarks. They have also "gone home" but this time to Ernest Blyth's nephew.
Sometimes I think we take our business for granted and forget how lucky we are to meet wonderful people and to see and handle beautiful unusual things, but uniting this brooch with the designer's sister and the cufflinks with the designer's nephew was something very special for me - it brought the pieces alive and reinforced exactly why we love and do what we do.