Archive record 014 · Original documents
A possession made personal.
A Leuchars & Son bill, London, 1 March 1877.
A silver cigarette case and a handwritten account.
A receipted Leuchars & Son bill dated 1 March 1877 brings the House into the scale of an individual transaction. Addressed to C. Philipson Esq., it records work on a silver cigarette case and what appears to be monogram engraving. The first operation remains uncertain.
The individual transaction
The printed grandeur gives way to a few lines of practical handwriting. A silver cigarette case is named, followed by an abbreviation provisionally read as engraving a monogram. The amount is read as ten shillings. The receipt below is dated 1/3/77.
A possession made personal
The apparent monogram engraving brings the account close to its client: an everyday object marked for an individual. The entry may concern a case already owned by the customer and brought to Leuchars for work, rather than the purchase of a new case. Repair, alteration or refinishing remain possible interpretations of the uncertain opening word; none is yet established.
Reading the handwriting
This is a provisional transcription from photographs, not a definitive reading. Square brackets identify uncertainty or editorial explanation; a slash indicates a line break.
[First operation uncertain] silver cigarette case & Eng[abbreviation] mono / on d[ditto]
Interpretation: work on a silver cigarette case, with apparent engraving of a monogram on the same object. “Rematting” is one proposed reading of the opening word, also used by the seller, but is not established. Remaking, enamelling and engraving have been considered as alternative readings. The later apparent engraving abbreviation provides context without resolving the first word.
Amount: read as 10 shillings. Receipt: “Paid / Leuchars & Son / [signature unread] / 1/3/77”. Additional note: “[word unresolved] cannot be obtained of the size required”. No identification of the case, its maker, its present whereabouts or its owner’s biography is established by this reading.
London and Paris, in print
The heading places “38 & 39, PICCADILLY” above “2, RUE DE LA PAIX, PARIS”. These are addresses printed on a document used in March 1877. The bill is dated London; the appearance of both addresses does not establish that this transaction took place in Paris.
The trade description names dressing and writing cases, travelling bags, fancy stationery, and foreign and English ormolu goods. Clocks, candelabra, bronzes and objects of art also appear on the sheet. It is a compact statement of the range the House presented to its clients.
Patronage and exhibition imagery
The printed heading names “HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN”, “H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES”, and “THE EMPEROR & EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH”, alongside foreign nobility. These are claims and titles printed on this historical billhead, not evidence of a new or continuing French imperial appointment in 1877.
Medallion illustrations carry the dates 1851, 1862, 1855 and 1867. Their presence documents the House’s presentation of exhibition associations; the illustrations alone do not establish the class or recipient of each award.
Two March bills, two transactions
A separate bill dated 31 March 1877 also appears to name C. Philipson. Its first line provisionally mentions a note-fold, silver corners and a monogram; the second reads more clearly as “& repolishing d[ditto]”. The amount appears to be sixteen shillings. The opening wording and abbreviations still require confirmation.
Repolishing is stronger evidence of attention to an existing object than of a straightforward sale of new goods. It supports reading the later bill as an account for work undertaken, although it does not by itself establish a repair. It also makes work on a customer’s existing cigarette case a plausible interpretation of the 1 March entry, without resolving that bill’s uncertain opening word.
The two dates and different entries must remain distinct. A shared customer name does not establish work on the same object. Examine the original photograph of the 31 March bill.
A later Paris account
A Paris bill apparently dated 29 May 1893 carries a customer name provisionally read as “Madame Philipson”. It offers a later comparison with these London accounts, but the matching surname does not establish the same customer or a family relationship. Examine the original Paris bill in Record 015.
Sources and limits
- Primary evidence: photographs IMG_4390–IMG_4397 supplied by Leuchars London of the newly received bill dated 1 March 1877. These show one document from several views.
- Comparison: the separate bill dated 31 March 1877, shown in the updated photograph IMG_4412 supplied by Leuchars London. Related detail photographs: IMG_4415 and IMG_4417; earlier photographs IMG_6404–IMG_6406 retained in the collection.
- History Store, item HS 1766, inspected 20 October 2026. Its description identifies C. Philipson and proposes “rematting”; this is another reading of the same document, not independent confirmation of the word.
Physical dimensions, verso, watermark, the customer’s identity, and the unclear handwriting remain unverified. The photographs preserve folds, wear and ink; no missing writing has been generated or reconstructed. Record prepared 20 October 2026.
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