Asprey and Co
of 165-8 New Bond Street, London, W1. Telephone: Regent 6767. Cables: "Culleus, London"
1781 Asprey's is said to have been founded in 1781, though the exact origins of the firm are unclear.
1804 The firm can certainly be traced back to around 1804, when Francis Kennedy established a stationery business. He later went into partnership with Charles Asprey
1843 After the partnership dissolved in 1843, Asprey formed his own business. He retailed in a wide range of fancy goods, including stationery, cutlery, dressing cases, pocket books.
As new partners joined the family firm, it was renamed Charles Asprey and Son and Asprey and Sons.
1909 The company was renamed Charles Asprey and Co Ltd.
Asprey's developed a reputation for the production and retail of gold and silver goods of the highest quality.
Throughout their history, Asprey had produced a significant quantity of silverware in house. However, the production of most of their EPNS goods was outsourced to firms in Sheffield. This is because the production of EPNS goods requires complex equipment and processes that are not necessary for the manufacture of those made from silver.
1914 Goldsmiths, silversmiths, watch and clock makers, travelling bag and dressing case manufacturers, fine leather workers and stationers (including Houghton and Gunn). Made travelling bags, dressing and writing cases and despatch boxes for King Edward VII. [1]
1934 See Asprey and Co: 1934 Review
WWII. The Asprey archive was destroyed during the Second World War.
1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Designers and Manufacturers of Finest Gold, Silver and Leather Goods, including Fitted Dressing Cases, Suitcases, Cigarette Cases, Wallets, Cigar Cases, Attaché, Jewel an Document Cases, Vanity Cases, etc. (Olympia, Ground Floor, Stand No. D.1607) [2]
The firm has opened additional retail outlets in New York, Beverly Hills, Honolulu, Hong Kong, St Moritz, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Osaka.
Asprey continue to make goods in silver and gold today, much of which is produced in their own workshop. They no longer retail in EPNS, as the demand for these goods has decreased within their particular consumer market.
1998 Garrard and Co merged with the jewellery firm Asprey and Co to become Asprey and Garrard, moving from 112 Regent Street to premises on New Bond Street.
Asprey & Garrard was bought by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, a younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei, in 1995, and later acquired by private investors Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou in 2000.
2002 The company demerged, with Garrards returning to the Albemarle Street site it first occupied in 1911.
2006 Garrards was acquired by the US private equity firm Yucaipa Cos., ending its partnership with Asprey.