Rod Kelly

I met a GP-jeweller at the weekend who was telling me about the silversmith Rod Kelly. There was an article about his work in Country Life and an elderly lady rang to compliment him on his talent. She called back 6 weeks later and said she was a retired school teacher and had been thinking about him and had decided to commission him to make her a silver beaker with a dandelion design. He did this and posted it to her and she rang him again to thank him. She used to call him every couple of months to say what pleasure the beaker gave her and how much she enjoyed drinking whisky from it and then he received a letter from a solicitor saying that she had died and that she had bequeathed the beaker to him in her will. He wrote back to refuse, insisting that one of her relations should inherit it. Her family, however, had the final word: she had been adamant that it should be returned to the craftsman. It is one of only a handful of pieces which he keeps for himself.