A spectacular diamond butterfly brooch from the Edwardian period was on last Sunday’s (1st April) Antiques Road Show and was valued for insurance at £60000, much to the delight of the mother and daughter who brought it to the show. If you were looking closely at the screen you would have seen Linden and Co, 85 New Bond Street, printed inside the lid of the brooch box.
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There is still a Linden & Co today which is based at the London Silver Vaults and specialises in antique silver and jewellery. Steven Linden’s great uncle originally worked out of a tiny office near London’s Piccadilly and did rather well when Britain came off the gold standard causing a flurry of buying and selling in gold and silver. With his profits he opened a double fronted jewellery shop in upmarket Bond Street. Two nephews joined him in the business; one was Steven’s father. After his uncle died, Stevens’s father set up Linden & Co in 1960 at the London Silver Vaults, which is now run by his two sons Steven & Howard.
Says Steven Linden, ‘My great uncle’s combination of entrepreneurial spirit and good eye for quality was the key to a very successful career. Over 60 years later like many of the dealers in the silver vaults whose knowledge have been handed down through the generations, we probably know a thing or two about silver & jewellery, which makes the Vaults a rather special place to shop. And butterfly brooches are still very popular.’
