A Brief History of the Stratton Of England Factory By Kind Permission of Juliette Edwards

Here is a " A Brief History of the Stratton Name " as written by Juliette Edwards. (Founder of The British Compact Collectors' Society. ) and this is wholly attributed to her. A Brief History of the Stratton Name: In 1920 two Birmingham companies merged; Jarrett & Rainsford, makers of haberdashery goods and cheap jewellery, and Stratton Ltd., makers of knitting needles, radio receivers and men's jewellery. Stratton Ltd. was owned by G.A. Laughton and the new company was called Jarrett, Rainsford & Laughton Ltd., with the Stratton name retained for the company's Fancy Metal department. From 1923 part-finished powder boxes were imported from the USA to be assembled and decorated in England until the company set up its own compact and lipstick case manufacturing equipment in the 1930s. This was so successful that by 1939 half these items for the British cosmetic industry were being made by Stratton Ltd., although they did not carry the Stratton name. At the same time a range of "fancy vanity boxes" (compacts) marked Stratton, or the earlier "Stratnoid" name, were produced for the jewellery trade, competing successfully against imports from the USA, Germany and Japan. An employee of a German competitor was forced to flee the Nazis in 1938. He joined the company, adding his experience and expertise gained with Rowenta to Stratton's Fancy Metal Department, which was located in the Alexandra Works, one of the company's five factories in Birmingham. In November 1940 four of these factories were destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing raids on Birmingham, with 500 foot-high flames engulfing the Alexandra works and the adjacent Globe Works. The company found new premises at scattered locations around Birmingham and turned production to the war Effort, adapting salvaged machinery where possible: for example, machines designed to make lipstick cases were modified to produce shell cases. The manufacture of powder compacts was resumed in 1946 at the rebuilt Leominster Works, using new and adapted machinery, so that many post-war Stratton compacts are unlike their pre-war counterparts. A new factory was built at Warstock Road, Birmingham, for the Twinco Moulding Division of the company and in the mid-1950s, in response to an export drive, the Fancy Metal Department was able to move to premises on the same Warstock Road site, where the company operated until it changed hands in the late 1990s. In 1997 the company (then known as Laughton & Sons Ltd.) sold the Stratton name to Cork International; in 2000 it became the property of Firmin & Sons PLC, a company with a long involvement in the fancy metal business. The Stratton name has recently (2006) changed hands again and the new owners, Faze Two Manufacturing Ltd., plan to reinstate the Stratton name with the prestige it formerly held. Thank You:- I would like to thank Juliette Edwards for giving me this Brief History on "The Stratton Name". I would hope who ever reads this will get pleasure and insight into one of our a great British factories. Juliette, this " Brief History on the Stratton Name" has added great content to my blog "Thank you" ____________________________________________ Juliette Edwards is also the author of the 'Miller's Powder Compacts A Collector's Guide' of which I have a photo included in my website. Trevor Hall.(This website designer)

Thursday, November 02, 2006

One Silver Colour, One Gold Colour, Both Fronted With Beautiful Art work


These Two Cases I Cannot find Out Any Information On. But I Feel They Could Well Have Been The Start Of The Earlier Models Of Stratton,I Think Before Cerca 1950 As They Are On A Silver And Gold Tone Engine Turned Metal. These Two Cases Are The Only Two That I Own Which Are Not Fronted In Enamel.Do you think they could be hand painted ?
If Anyone Can Feed Me Some Information On These Cases Cerca dates etc, I would Be Very
Gratefull.

Posted by Trevor at Thursday, November 02, 2006

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An Intresting Collection of Ashtrays Compacts & Cases.

An Intresting Collection of Ashtrays Compacts & Cases.
My Very First Stratton Cases Collected All On Ebay.

Where do i start and where do keep my gorgeous collection of Stratton Memorabillia

Well the first large consideration when starting a collection, is where do you keep it, how large will it become, and will it just hang around collecting dust, which really is going to reduce its appeal to yourself and others, which in turn looses it`s value. Do you hide it from those none desirables in society that want to have all that we have, and at any cost, or do you put it on show for the world to see( was that not the reason why you wanted to own a collection? Yes of course it was) So It is going to go on show!!...........BUT WHERE....I will share that with you, when you have had chance to view more cases.

This Apsolutly Stunning Case, This Case Has A Deep Black Gloss Enameled Background & A Red Rose

This Apsolutly Stunning Case, This Case Has A Deep Black Gloss Enameled Background & A Red Rose
Probable my favorite case, An English rose in all it`s splender

A Wintery Autumn Scene ! Breathtaking.

A Wintery Autumn Scene ! Breathtaking.
Apsolutly just stunning,a crisp white background and hand paited Autumn leaves

Stratton Cigarette Case & Powder Compact

Stratton Cigarette Case & Powder Compact
These Two Beautiful & Stunning compacts i believe both dated around Cerca1950s/1960s consisting of a Ladies Cigarette Case,and Powder Compact.These two are enameled fronted on a gold base metal which shows the Flamingo`s in striking colours On a Lustrous Translucent Blue. A Really Gorgeous set and i hope to find the Ashtray to match.

A Great eBay tale !! But a very true Story

Stratton Cases come with a fantastic amount of Enameled Fronts, consisting of themes, scenes,birds, flowers,and Characters, and some to match the Era in which they were made, and i have only been collecting these for the past year and now it is 2006, and i always have a rush of blood when i see a case that i have not yet seen or collected, this one was one of those blood rushes, in fact i was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if i could win the bid on eBay to rescue this case to my collection.I waited seven days and watched in anticipation,watching and waiting to see if i was the lucky bidder, for three days i held my bid of just fourteen UK pounds,and this only after i had taken the bid of someone El's in the race for this beautiful case.It did not take me long to feel bad about the whole situation, as i had lost the bid to another bidder coming from the United States.I tried to take on a bid almost immediately, and unfortunately for me the bid went higher and higher until i was the highest bidder once again, but it was Higher than i wanted to pay, and only for one reason as i really did not know how much to pay for something i had only paid a few small UK Pounds for before, i needed to know how much they were worth, i tried to find websites on collecting Strattons, and the only indication i could find was for the Ladies Make-up compacts, and these were being sold for some small amounts of Money, to very large amounts of money, in fact a lot more than i was paying for this cigarette case.Anyway the moral of the story was Hey i Wanted that case badly and i would pay for it, like this other person would pay for it, so it must have been worth at least that much to me, as it was to them. Guess what YES i WON the BID..........Yes it was 26 UK Pounds, but I do really really like it and it stands proud in my collection...........Was i right to pay that much for it...........well i think i was !! Don't you?

A Matching Enameled Fronted Cigarette Case,Make-up Compact and Portable Ashtray,

A Matching Enameled Fronted Cigarette Case,Make-up Compact and Portable Ashtray,
My First Three Compacts, Collected Around The World, to make a completed set.This Set Consisiting, of a Cigarette Case, Make-Up Compact, and of course the Portable Ashtray.I Also Think That A Lipstick Type Compact Would Be Available, But I Am Not Sure If They Carried The Same Designs,Or Would Have Even Been Part Of A Set

A Stunning Pair of Compacts, this is a Cigarette Case, and a Miniture Powder Compact

A Stunning Pair of Compacts, this is a Cigarette Case, and a Miniture Powder Compact
The small Powder Compact is really cute and is only 4.5cm Round thats just 2.75 inches,I really do not know anything about these two compacts dates or whether they are part of a larger set.
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Millers Powder Compacts..This is a must if you are serious about collecting Compacts,

Millers Powder Compacts..This is a must if you are serious about collecting Compacts,
Author Juliette Edwards (BCCS )......This really is a great purchase, and so much work gone into this book, you really should have one !!

Stratton Quality White Enameled Background / Flower Motive.

Stratton Quality White Enameled Background / Flower Motive.
A Beautiful round Flower design,reminds me of Crochet / Needle Work, I also have a larger Cigarette case of this design, which I believe to be a later model cerca 1970 / 80s.They both look really nice together, which i will show in another photo. .

Flying Geese on a Translucent Blue Background

Flying Geese on a Translucent Blue Background
This is Clever use of a wild life, these are so cute and the Geese look so real gliding over bog of grass.Truly amazing colours used in this scene.