Small mystery from 1883. What does this name say and who was Percy Cooke?

[BatsVSBelfrys]

I've picked up an antique jewellery box on my travels - it's very battered and has seen better days but that's all part of the charm I suppose!

Anyway, it has a brass plaque screwed into it. I 'think' it says A D Gough but I'm unsure of the U in Gough. Can you make it out?

Also it was made by Percy Cooke 194 Regent street. (Doesn't add London but I'm assuming this?)

Google doesn't throw up anything - can anyone assist?

Thanks!

Here's the pic of the name

I’d say that was C rather than a D. But agree with the U in Gough

A lot time later, but ….https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234763935949?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8LHC6ag-TTC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=9D5Nk04WQcm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Percy appears in the 1884 business directory of London at that address but can’t see any more!

https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/api/collection/p16445coll4/id/274709/download

That looks like AC Gough (not AD) to me too.

This is interesting because 194 Regent Street in London is (part of) Hamleys, which has been there since 1881. Perhaps it was smaller when it first opened and Percy was next door?

It may not the name of the maker of the box, but rather the owner. My great-grandparents were presented with a mahogany box of silver cutlery, and on the front is a silver plaque engraved with their names and the date the box was presented to them. Could it be similar?

@eyeslikebutterflies op says it was made by Percy Cooke 194 Regent street, it is the owners name op is trying to decipher.

Agree, that's AC Gough.

@Nebulosity ha, wouldn't that be amazing if it was the same person?

@Jellifer so he does! So he was definitely there and surely was a jeweller

1891, Percy Cooke, Fancy Stationer , 194 Regent Street
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u307AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA884&lpg=PA884&dq=percy+cooke+194+regent+street+jewellery+shop&source=bl&ots=UoN-alkD0F&sig=ACfU3U0VIeig697e9gCWc6B-R5JoXV0uJw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmoIPZ_vWDAxUPVkEAHaszBjAQ6AF6BAg0EAM#v=onepage&q=percy%20cooke%20194%20regent%20street%20jewellery%20shop&f=false

@NerdWhoEatsMedlar hmm so maybe he wasn't a jeweller then but a stationer who happened to stock jewellery boxes?

Maybe it's not even a jewellery box I have here? But I think it must be. I'll post some pics of it

I turned the photo round so it's easier to read.

Could it be Agnes C Gough, born 1867 who, in 1881, lived at 11 Whewell Road, Islington?

Is it some sort of small writing box?
or
A travel jewellery box?
or
A snuff / cigar box?

Percy Cooke, year of birth 1859, stationer, son of a wholesale stationer, in 1881 aged 22 lived at 136 Haverstock Hill, Hampstead.

Some pics

And a few more showing Percy as the maker

That's been through the wars a bit. Looks like a writing box to me - pens at the bottom and a place for an inkwell in the indentation.

Is that not a writing box? It could be A N Gough

It is a writing box, not a jewellery box. So A C could be male or female.

You're right of course. Thanks so much.

It's not a jewellery box is it? Hence the brass plate and little handle and the obvious inkwell thing

I assumed jewellery because it's lined in purple velvet.

Definitely A C Gough, not D, and I agree it's a writing box/correspondence box. That fits with the stationers shop, too.

Here's an example from a similar period -

https://www.londonfine.co.uk/products/antique-correspondence-box-english-leather-writing-case-victorian-c-1890

Yes, it’s a writing box.