A beautiful near antique Chinese export silver brush set, presented to Supt. Lovell upon his retirement in 1939 by Major Bourne, the Commissioner of Police in the Shanghai Municipal Police Force. This occasion was featured in an article by the North China Daily News, a British owned Shanghai newspaper active from 1850 to 1941. With marks and original retailer’s case for Nanking Store, a silver retailer based on 444 Szechuen Road, Shanghai, and was active 1895 to 1940. Monogrammed JFL to clothes brushes and comb for Supt. Lovell’s initials; two silver-backed clothes brushes as well as one smaller silver-backed comb. Silver plaque to top of box commemorating Supt. Lovell’s retirement on October 15th, 1939.
Supt. James Franklin Lovell (1892-1964) served in the Shanghai Municipal Police Force from 1914 to 1939. His remarkable life and career spanned the tumultuous years of post-Republic China and the Warlord Period, experiencing the heady decadence of the roaring 20s in Shanghai as well as the threat of Japanese aggression, Communist sentiment on the rise and the seething underbelly of Shanghai society. In particular from 1935 to 1939, Supt. Lovell was in charge of the Reserve Unit, the world’s first modern SWAT team.
He oversaw incidents such as numerous strikes in Japanese owned cotton mills in Shanghai (1936), the Kung Yik Cotton Mill Riot (1937) and several terrorist attacks/assassination attempts by various secret societies, such as that by the Yellow Way Society in 1938. All this on top of the usual state of affairs in 1930s Shanghai- the ongoing civil war, struggles against the deeply entrenched triads, secret societies as well as foreign espionage.
All this and more will be explored in-depth in our ongoing Scandalous Silver editorial in the Antiques to Vintage Magazine.
Price marked at $750 AUD the set.
Case Measurements: 21 by 17.5cm, 5.2cm height. Clothes brushes each 8.3 by 12.5cm, 3cm height. Comb 14.2cm length.
Excellent near antique condition, with light wear overall commensurate with age. Marks crisp and clear.
