BAYKO in J. G. Graves Mail Order

J. G. Graves was born in Lincolnshire (in 1886), but moved to Sheffield to become an apprentice watchmaker, presumably just before the turn of the nineteenth century.

He later set up one of the U.K.'s earliest mail order businesses, initially based on watches, but soon extending across a wide range of fancy goods and beyond. You will notice that the top page shown [below] acclaims J. G. Graves as : -

In the end J. G. had a broad range of business and philanthropic interests in the Sheffield area.

A little while after his death (in 1946), the mail order company was taken over by Great Universal Stores, a substantial, U.K. based, mail order company.

The document below is a newspaper-sized flier, dating from the run up to Christmas 1953 or 1954 - based on the BAYKO prices shown. Unfortunately the original has been heavily folded, which has affected the image quality slightly, but I still think it is interesting to get a snapshot of the mail order business of the period.

Click on the image immediately below to see a larger image of the BAYKO inclusion.