London Retail History · Post-war Britain · Commercial Ephemera
An Oxford Street Purchase — Original Selfridges Sales Docket, 1952
Issuer: Selfridges Ltd., Oxford Street, London W.1
Catalogue details
Description
An original working sales docket from Selfridges, the celebrated Oxford Street department store established by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909. Rather than advertising or promotional material, this is paperwork used in the everyday processing of merchandise and a customer's order. The printed departmental columns, blue-pencil entries, delivery instructions and red order reference preserve a small piece of the administrative life behind London's department-store counters.
- Dimensions
- Measurements gladly provided on request
- Issuer
- Selfridges Ltd., Oxford Street, London W.1
- Date
- Apparently 16 October 1952 (manuscript date, subject to confirmation)
- Format
- Original printed and manuscript sales/order docket, one sheet
- Reference
- 00084-16 in red; administrative stamp numbered 85
- Condition
- Please consult the photographs for condition. Additional photographs are available on request.
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Historical context & sources
Selfridges in Post-war London
The manuscript date appears to read 16 October 1952. If correctly interpreted, it places the docket within the period of British post-war recovery, when Oxford Street remained a major destination for shopping and retail innovation. The document does not itself disclose a wider historical event; its appeal lies in its direct connection to ordinary commerce at a famous London establishment.
Customer and Delivery Annotation
The Send To section carries a handwritten name and delivery address. The writing is partly faded or difficult to read; a separate magnified photograph is included to allow examination of the original handwriting. No definite identification of the customer is asserted. The goods column likewise contains pencil entries that cannot be transcribed with confidence.
Collectors & Research
Of interest to collectors of British commercial ephemera, London history, mid-twentieth-century social history, department-store material and handwritten business records.
