An Unsuspecting Treasure

It was a quiet Thursday morning in London’s St. James’s, and as shops opened their doors for trade, well-heeled footsteps approached Swaine Adeney Brigg from neighbouring Jermyn Street.  A long-standing client and friend of the company arrived to pick up a recovered umbrella for his daughter.  He peered in through the tall Georgian rounded windows for signs of life, and no sooner had he checked his pocket watch, the door opened, and the familiar greeting of the shop clerk soon followed. The shop clerk presented and handed over the Victorian recovered umbrella with its newly engraved collar.  Gratefully received, the client then broached the quandary of his wife’s gift ahead of their 30th Wedding Anniversary.  He desired something unique. The couple initially met as rival horse trainers. Both at the top of their game and well respected in equestrian circles, they had amassed quite the collection of various Swaine & Adeney crops, whips, horns, and other requisites over the years. He explained how he had planned everything and had pearls prepared, but alas, nothing befitting to house them in.

Acknowledging the predicament, the Shop Clerk smiled offered to console the client by proposing a ‘real rarity’, not presently displayed in the shop. An immaculate black crocodile skin covered Swaine & Adeney jewellery case, finished with brass fittings, handmade around the time the two trainers had met, was carefully unwrapped and presented. Dumbfounded and amazed, he purchased it in an instant. As the two shook hands, he exclaimed:

Gosh, It’s always worth paying a visit in-store, isn’t it!?