Beldray

EnglishMetalware.com

Beldray

Beldray metalware includes vases (flower vases and fern pots), crumb sets (crumb tray and brush), crumb scoops, tazzas (fruit dishes or table centres with cut glass linings or inserts), cake or fruit baskets (with handles and cut glass linings), pitchers (hot water jugs), hot water cans (with handles and spouts), fancy tea kettles, tea urns, copper kettles, letter holders, ink wells, rose bowls (with brass wire nets), shaving jugs, tea caddies, steel plaques, coal scoops, waiters (round trays), clothes brush sets, and tea and breakfast trays (oval and rectangular trays). Beldray pieces are English and appear to have been produced mainly in the early 1900's.

The most common Beldray antique items appear to be vases, especially in brass, although copper/brass, and many chrome examples exist as well. The brass and copper vases usually have decorative handles; the chrome vases generally do not. Besides the vases, some of the most attractive items include ink wells, crumb trays, letter holders, waiters, and tea and breakfast trays. Very attractive ornate smokers' stands (with match box holders) are found in a 1926 Beldray catalog. (Oddly, only the plain smokers' stands seem to regularly turn up on eBay.) Similarly, ornate ash trays, rose bowls, and fancy tea kettles have not been seen on eBay or elsewhere although all seem quite collectable. (Antique dealers are missing the boat on these.) Some of the nicest Beldray items occasionally seen are copper clocks, letter holders, and spirit kettles.

Beldray items with Registered Design Numbers include a crumb tray, 473163 (January 30, 1906) and a letter holder, 475680 (March 15, 1906). Those registrations were to Bradley and Company, Limited with an address of Albion Works, Bilston, Staffordshire. The company was described as "Manufacturers."

Today, Beldray Limited is a UK-based manufacturer of consumer durable products. According to the company web site, it was originally established in 1872 as the Bradley Company.

Link to a site with a history of Bradley and Company and Beldray

What is the origin of the name Beldray? It is an anagram of the letters in Bradley. The company's logo was a bell on a wagon (an old word for wagon is dray).

The Author of this site has come into possession of a extensive Beldray MetalWare booklet produced in 1926 by Bradley & Co. Ltd. located in Bilston, England. Bradley & Co. was the holder of the Beldray trademark. Presumably, Bradley & Co. eventually changed its name to Beldray. The author of this site plans to scan the full booklet and reproduce it at this site. Two pages from the Beldray Catalog are now available at this site: Page 31: Smokers' Stands and Page 38: Tea and Breakfast Trays.

Beldray brass vase 4 Chrome Beldray vases Beldray catalog

Beldray Brass Jug Beldray inkwell Beldray Copper Tray

Beldray tea tray Beldray vase Beldray Tea Caddy

Beldray Copper Clock Beldray copper clock - another design Beldray Copper Jug Beldray Copper Vase

This page was last updated on September 26, 2004.