Halcyon Days (company)

Halcyon Days Ltd is a British retailer of luxury goods including enamel products, bone china, crystal, cashmere, leather and silk.

The company operates shops at Brook Street in London, and at the Bicester Village Shopping Centre in Oxfordshire, with the company’s workshop situated in Tipton, West Midlands, England. Products can be purchased at the stores, online and at other retailers including Harrods, Mulberry Hall and Scully & Scully of New York.

It is one of 15 companies which have been granted three royal warrants, as suppliers of works of art to the British Royal Family.

History

Founded by Susan Benjamin in 1950, Halcyon Days was initially a small antiques shop based on Avery Row in London which specialised in dealing with English antiques, in particular small enamel boxes.[1] By 1959 the company had out grown its original premises and moved to its current home on Brook Street.[2]

Whilst the English craft of enameling on copper flourished during the 18th century, by the 1830s it had almost disappeared; consequently the pieces which Halcyon Days specialised in were extremely rare.[3] In 1970 Susan Benjamin established a collaboration with enamel manufacturer Bilston and Battersea Enamels.[4]

In 1978 Halcyon Days was granted the Royal Warrant of Queen Elizabeth II, followed in 1987 by the Royal Warrants of the Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales, as the first ever ‘Suppliers of Objets d’Art’.[5]

By the 1980s the company began to produce new products in bone china and porcelain.[5] In 2008 the company opened a new workshop at Tipton. Today all enamel pieces are still hand-produced at this workshop.[1]

Products

Halcyon Days’ enamel products include boxes, musical boxes, cufflinks, travel clocks, carriage clocks and chronometers. A number of the enamel ranges are produced as limited editions. The company also produces items in bone china, porcelain, cashmere, crystal, leather and silk.

Commissions and collaborations

One of the first commissions received was in 1970 soon after the launch of Halcyon Days Enamels, by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for a box depicting Clarence House. In 1976 the New York Times reported that, on an official visit to the USA in the year of the Bicentennial celebrations, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh presented U.S. President Gerald Ford with a special Halcyon Days box. By coincidence the President gave the Queen another special Halcyon Days box, commissioned through Cartier, New York, to celebrate the occasion.[5] In the past pieces have been made in collaboration with the British Museum, Tate Gallery, National Gallery and Smithsonian Institutions.[5]

Presently the company holds two licenses with the Royal Horticultural Society and Historic Royal Palaces.

References

  1. 1 2 "Halcyon Days".
  2. ↑ benjamin, susan (1995). the first 25 years of halcyon days. benjamin dent ltd.
  3. ↑ "Susan Benjamin". The Telegraph. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Hurr, David (2010-10-13). "Susan Benjamin Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 benjamin, susan (1995). The First 25 Years of Halcyon Days. Benjamin Dent Ltd.
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