Compacts made by the English company Gwenda are among the easiest compacts to recognize! (Their opening catch is typically lobed.)
Originally the company was called Hussey, Dawson Ltd and were located in Birmingham, England in a beautiful arts and crafts style building at 17 Legge Lane, known as the Union Works building. It was built in 1913 for the well known silversmith Henry John Manton, whose silversmith and glass manufacturing company was established in 1834.
After Manton’s company left the building around 1929, the next business to occupy the facility was the Hussey Dawson firm, the owners of the Gwenda brand name. In addition to compacts, the founders, John Hussey and Francis Dawson, also produced a variety of products including an assortment of toys.
Most Gwenda compacts were made in the 1930’s and advertisements for the company have been found throughout the decade. They resumed post-war production and throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s advertisements featured powder bowls, cigarette cases and hand mirrors.
Gwenda shaped compacts were round, square, rectangular, oval and some had a “tap-sift” powder dispensing mechanism on the inside along with polished metal mirrors. The lids included charming scenes of ladies in crinoline dresses, courting couples and exotic birds. The images were made of crumpled foil and adhered to the top of the compact under a celluloid covered lid.
They also made compacts that included geometric patterns, insignias, painted flowers and souvenir themes. George VI was King of the United Kingdom from 1936 until his death in 1952. Along with Queen Elizabeth, their images appeared on a variety of Gwenda compacts in the 1950’s.
In the late 1950’s the business was selling fewer vanities items and in 1961 went into liquidation and parts of the company were sold. A new company known as Hussey Gwenda Products Ltd. was formed, although it doesn’t appear that they made vanity items. In 2015 Birmingham Stopper purchased Hussey Gwenda Products Ltd. Developers eventually converted the elegant building into an apartment complex.
Source: IPBA Winter 2023 Vanity Views eNews
See Gwenda items in our Virtual Museum.
