A silver pill box with glass cabochon made by Enid Kelsey in 1933.

Enid is on my list to research further at some stage. She is sadly best known for being the wife of Cyril Kelsey who was apprenticed to Charles Robert Ashbee at the Guild of Handicraft during its early years in London. He is known to have worked on a table service and case of jewellery at the sixth exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society at the New Gallery in London in 1899. Cyril promptly left the Guild around 1901 to join the army in South Africa.

Enid is a bit more of a mystery. I found an early reference in The Studio in 1915 which tells us that she exhibited metalwork and jewellery at the exhibition of Arts and Crafts at the Institute, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb. We don’t hear anything further until she registers her makers mark with the London Assay Office in 1929. The address given for her is 17 Northway, Temple Fortune, London, NW11. It would be very interesting to understand when she married Cyril and whether she had any interaction with the Guild of Handicraft.

Her work pops up occasionally and is generally in the earlier Arts and Crafts style. The flower lid on this particular pill box reminds me very much of some of the early jewellery designed by Charles Robert Ashbee for the Guild of Handicraft. Small but perfectly formed with very detailed pierced sides and a perfect fitting lid.

Both the lid and the box are fully hallmarked for London, 1933. I believe that the cabochon is glass but I could be wrong.