One of the ‘goals’ for a Baxter collector is to find a complete needle box set as they were meant to be used, in a box, Baxter print on the outer lid with a set of ten small needle box prints on the small boxes inside. These boxes being used to house different sizes of sewing needles for the Victorian ladies sewing ‘entertainment’. These boxes would have been expensive and most probably out of the range of many people.

They were designed to be used and it is surprising that any of these quite fragile small boxes remain, let alone whole sets in the larger outer boxes, but survive they do and although they are hard to find survive in greater numbers than you would think, so why is that?

On 19th April 1997 – David Owen, grandson of the 1920’s collector Alfred Ernest Owen hosted a New Baxter Society (NBS) meeting at his and his late Grandfathers’ former home New Hall, nr Birmingham. The Hall was sold in the 1980’s and is now run as a hotel. At the time the then Chairman, Bryon Parkin, describing what the exhibition would include, listed many choice items and “probably the best collection of needle boxes anywhere in the land”.

In the March 2002 NBS newsletter there was a review of an auction sale held in December 2001 where 30 such boxes had come up for sale. That is a very large amount in one sale, normally 2 or 3 boxes in a sale would attract great attention. I have been told that this sale ‘most probably’ came from part of the Owen family. A couple of other sales over the last 20 years featured smaller but still a good number of boxes and some, I have been told from a very reliable source, also most probably came from members of the wider Owen family.

The NBS 2019 Summer meeting also went back to New Hall, be it on a slightly smaller scale, included was a smaller but very good collection of needle boxes still held, at that time, again within the Owen family.

Owen was an avid collector and a hard-nosed negotiator who used to part-exchange some of his duplicate items for new prints so it is quite possible he would have passed on a number of his collection of these boxes during his life time. So his collection could have been at one time even larger than has been documented.

Over the last few years the sales of some of the larger, well-known collections put together since the 1960’s have come onto the market allowing many collectors the chance to obtain one or more of these boxes but how come Owen was able to collect so many?

Many years ago I purchased a collection of Baxter’s printing plates, books and ephemera from someone who had been gifted them from an elderly member of the Owen family, this included part of Alfred Owen’s buying archive, letters and invoices detailing many of his Baxter purchases. Amongst those was a string of some 50+ letters relating to an F G Turner of 130 Fellows Road, London NW3.

The first of Turner’s letters is to the 1920’s Baxter dealer P F Bullivant offering to sell him his collection of needle boxes. It appeared Bullivant frustratingly could not come to a deal and passed the information on to Owen, who he had dealt with many times. He would have been expecting a commission on the introduction as he had received same in 1919 for the introduction to Owen of the seller of 55,000 sheets of Kronheim prints which became known as ‘The New Hall Vault’ collection on their sale at Christies in 1987 (See Link 3 below).

The letters start from Turner to Bullivant in Oct 1925, which included a list of items he wanted to sell such as needle box sets with box lids with the prints of Baxter’s Netley Abbey, Calder Idris, Conchologists, View from Windsor, Warwick Castle, Great Exhibition, Tarantella and inside: Baxter’s Regal Set, Figures and Landscapes, Allied Sovereigns, Greek Dance & Harem set and a number with Vincent Brooks ‘New Ten’, said to be prepared under Baxter’s guidance. Also some of the embossed boxes that are possibly by De La Rue that we do see on occasions with a Baxter print on the outer lid together with more boxes with outer prints and needle boxes by Bradshaw & Blacklock and Kronheim.

The letters are hard to read and it is sometimes harder to decipher exactly what is being said but I think that in total on this list there are 42 boxes along with 15 needle cases with Baxter and other prints on them and a number of separate large box lids. The prices Turner is asking for them varies between £3 for some containing three boxes or the ones with the embossed boxes up to £15 for the ones with full sets of Baxter's prints. Turner wanted in-excess of £300 for the collection but it is noted Bullivant offers £110!

Five months later we find our first letter from Owen to Turner referring to Bullivant’s offer and that having not heard back had passed Turner’s details to him. Turner’s reply states £110 is way too low and finishes with “there are no such needle boxes (apart from?) mine in existence elsewhere or in the market”. After various letters between Turner, Bullivant and Owen by late March 1926 there is then another list detailing his ‘whole’ collection, now a total of 50 boxes with just 20 separate lids, 3 needle cases as well as 33 Baxter prints.

After more letters with offers and counteroffers by mid July a deal has been reached at £160. Reading the letters we can appreciate how easy it is for us today to phone, text or email as that might have saved innumerate letters and many weeks of communication.

Five months later in December 1926 another series of letters from Turner begins stating that his brother has come across more items including 39 more sets of needle boxes and 13 separate large box lids, over the next month and much arguing about condition of this batch a deal was struck at £75. Two years later in February 1929 another letter arrives from Turner detailing a further 19 sets of needle boxes, 2 separate lids and some 30 prints for which Owen paid £30. I have no more letters after that date.

So in total, it appears from the three purchases Owen acquired a total of 108 sets of needle boxes. The boxes mostly had sets of ten small boxes but some with only 3 or 5 inside along with 35 loose large box lids, needle cases and various prints. Of course there may be more purchases from Turner for which I don’t have the letters.

So who was F G Turner and how come he had amassed so many needle boxes? After some luck and hours of research and with the great assistance of society member Gilly, an enthusiast for everything sewing, we realised that F G Turner is actually Frank Gilbert Turner. He was the son of Richard Turner who had been running a highly successful family needle business R Turner & Sons in Redditch, the company being established in 1820 by Richard’s father. F. G Turner took over the business on his father’s retirement in the early 1900’s and was the Director when it was incorporated as R Turner & Sons Ltd in 1909. I can find that company in the Birmingham Commercial Year Book 1914 but no trace afterwards. The 'Avery Needle Case Resource Centre' website (Link 1 below) has a detailed company history but they have nothing after 1912.

So how do we know it is the same F G Turner, all the company history sites only have address for the business in Redditch and our letters start with the address of 130 Fellows Road London NW3, from 9th July 1926, 92 Abbey Road London NW8 and then 152 Adelaide Road Hampstead NW3 in February 1929. Apparently there was no connection at all but by a stroke of luck a leather needle case with Baxter’s Claremont was omitted when Turner delivered Owen’s first batch of purchases to him. That needle case was then sent to Owen by A. S Turner “on the instructions of my brother” giving his address as 128 Bromham Road , Bedford. Thanks especially here to Gilly who spotted that this address was for F G’s brother, Alfred Lucas Turner, a School Master. That name AND address is noted as one of the sons of Richard Turner confirming the connection.

Although I have a total of over 50 items of correspondence spanning the years July 1915 to February 1929, of the one’s I hold, one thing is noticeable is that Owen at no time seems to ask how Turner, or his brother, came to have so many boxes, perhaps this was discussed when they met in person? Did Owen not realise he was buying the left over-stock of R Turner & Sons? He never mentions anything but Owen was very astute, if he was aware of their source I could see him keeping that quiet and using that information to his advantage.

So a lot of detail to confirm that Alfred Ernest Owen’s collection of needle boxes “probably the best collection of needle boxes anywhere in the land” was based on a large collection that was left unsold when R Turners & Sons Ltd closed down. A small part of that collection most probably now forms the basis of my own collection of needle boxes, and I am sure a number of other Society members.

In a couple of letters Turner asks that all this information is kept confidential and that ’my name must be kept out of the matter entirely’ - 100 years on I would like to think I am not brakeing his confidence!

For more information on Baxter related needle boxes and sewing items please see Link 2 below