‘The Queen’s Gift Shop’. It’s not an epithet to be bestowed lightly and Asprey has always accepted this as both a privilege and responsibility. As a result Asprey, has enjoyed this appellation has been richly justified since 1862, when Queen Victoria awarded the company a Royal Warrant for our dressing cases, travelling bags and writing cases.

In 1889 Asprey was granted a Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales who was later to become King Edward VII. He was so pleased with a monogram Asprey designed for him, he tried to put it on all the pillar boxes in the country.

King Edward VII remained an important and enthusiastic customer up until his death. At the time of his funeral an Asprey member of staff remembered “Practically all the ruling heads of Europe were there, and many of them came to Asprey, you might see three or four in the shop at one time.”

[Pictured: ‘The Diamond Queen’, a light installation to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, by acclaimed light artist, Chris Levine and jewelled diadem by Asprey London (2012).]

In 1862 Queen Victoria awarded the company a Royal Warrant for our dressing cases, travelling bags and writing cases. Asprey also held a Royal Warrant for Queen Elizabeth II as Jewellers, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths.

Shown here, a dressing case owned by Ernest Gambart, a famous art dealer who sold Turners from Asprey Albemarle gallery. (image courtesy of Daniel Lucian).

In 1953 it was the coronation of the current monarch, Elizabeth II to which Asprey paid homage with the Asprey Coronation Year Gold Collection. This featured a dessert, coffee and liqueur service in 18-carat gold and weighed almost 27 pounds. In April 1953 it went on show in the London store and subsequently toured the United States.