Edwardian Sterling Silver Presentation Bowl

hallmarked London, 1905-1906, by Harrison Brothers & Howson, the hemispherical bowl with shaped and molded rim and decorated on the lower half with elaborated beaded and leafy spiral gadroons and flutes, raised on a conforming domed foot, engraved on the body with a presentation inscription "To Belford G. Royal / from the London Branch / Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. / "Don't Forget Us".
h. 7", dia. 9-1/4", 35.88 t. oz.

Notes: Belford Grant Royal (1865-1933), a tobacconist's son from Paulsboro, New Jersey, was a machinist and foreman of the Standard Machine Shop when he teamed with Eldridge Johnson to form the United States Gramophone Company. A copyright infringement lawsuit forced the company to change the name to the Victor Talking Machine Company, but the British branch retained the Gramophone Company name. (Although it was briefly - as evidenced here - called the Gramophone & Typewriter Company after a merger with the Lambert Typewriter Company). Belford Royal moved to England to oversee operations there in 1897 and remained until 1906: the occasion of the presentation of this fine bowl. Royal was later the General Superintendent (1912-1919), Vice-President (1923-1925) and Chairman of the Board (1926-1928) of Victor; he was still on the Board of Directors when he died on June 24, 1933. By that time, Victor and Gramophone were two of the largest record companies in the world, known for their iconic HMV - "His Master's Voice" - label. The Gramophone Company would continue well into the 1970s under that name, eventually becoming part of E.M.I. in 1973; one of the last records released under the Gramophone copyright was Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.