Vintage Exquisite Brooch,"UK", Circa 20 Century

15

Love it

0

Like it

See 13 more

Add to collection

Add to collection

Hello Followers, Visitors, Members and Friends from Collectors Weekly, 6-05-2017, 12:30 AM

I found this Brooch yesterday during my day of shopping, the Salvation come with some nice piece if you lucky to be the first after they put in the showcase.
This brooch is stamp Exquisite on the back.
I discover during my research, this brooch is from a UK manufacturer"EXQUISITE" during the 50s to 70s, nice stone on the side surrounded by thistles flowers.

This brooch is 1.50 inch diameter.

Many Thanks Everyone for Viewing.
Alan

--------------------------EXQUISITE---------------------------

At the end of Queen Victoria’s era, a jeweler named Walter Archibald Parker Watson (1880 -1952) established a factory in the famous Jewellery Quarter in Hockley Birmingham. However in 1914 at the onset of World war One, he sold his business to Augustus Harry Power (1878 -1952) and Clarence Oswald Flint (1880 – 1946) This two men kept his name – W.A.P. Watson and eventually became a limited company.
It has fascinated me on why did they keep the founders name? Was it because the business had a good reputation and was well established? Did W.A.P. Watson have shares in the business and it was part of the agreed sale? Were they very good friends; and was it in respect for Walter, who enlisted in the 1st/5th Battalion of the Royal Warwick Regiment as a second Lieutenant? He enlisted in 1915 and rose to captain before being injured and invalid out of the army in 1923.
Why they kept the name? – this I have yet to find out. By the time of Clarence’ death in 1946, he appears to have already left the company – although he still retained very good friendship with Augustus Power’s son.
To continue with the growth of the company. In the first instance the partners came from very different backgrounds.
Augustus Harry Power an engraver by trade came from a family of gun makers that lived in Moseley, Birmingham. He had traveled to London to work and gain experience initially. By 1906 he had a thriving business with warehouse space in Whittall Street in Birmingham. In 1911 he is listed as a gun engraver on the census, along with his brother Richard aslo a gun engraver. Still in 1912 he had a warehouse in Whittall street and lived in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham.
Clarence Oswald Power was once a clerk who’s family were auctioneers and estate agents. They lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham along the Hagley Road, then moved to Bearwood by 1911 and was then a jeweler and manager. This smattering of information has been gained from the census of 1901, 1891, 1911 and 1881.
It is a strange feeling that my own ancestors were a long line of gun engravers and masters in their trade. They also lived and worked in both the areas that these two were. So it is very possible that they were known to each other??
W.A.P. Watson was a small company to start, with only 6 people employed. From 1914 they were manufacturing costume jewelry. However during the first and second world wars they would have been employed to aid the war effort.
In 1920 they had premises in Augusta Street in the St Paul’s ward, Birmingham. It looks as though they shared the large factory area with at least 4 other businesses.
The trade name of Exquisite was introduced to foster customer loyalty. The signature on the jewellery was introduced in the mid 1950s and continued until they stopped manufacturing in the late 1970s. This means that there is quite a lot of unsigned exquisite jewellery pre 1950s that was manufactured. Before they moved to Solihull, the company manufactured for other sellers wholesale. After moving they used the name Exquisite exclusively for their own range that they sold direct to shops. I have also seen unsigned jewellery from the 1950s onwards that looks to be Exquisite – as they match signed pieces. This is because some ranges did not have any signatures, especially pieces that were popular and so had more than one manufacturing run.
With their business expanding WAP Watson Ltd moved at least three times in the UK. From their original premises in Northampton Street, a small side street in the Jewellery Quarter to Great Hampton Street, a main road in the Jewellery Quarter. At this point, they employed 125 people. Along side costume jewellery, they manufactured crested souvenirs and had another premises in nearby Mary Street. With the growing success of the jewellery and souvenirs, a larger business site was needed. The jewellery quarter and the centre of Birmingham was (and still is!) very congested. So in 1954, WAP watson Ltd moved to a 3 acres site in Vulcan Road, Solihull.
The company remained a family business with Wallis and Jack Power, the sons of Augustus becoming Managing Directors. In the seventies Graham Hughes became an associate and took over the companies expansion.