The Story of the Gift Certificate
From early twentieth-century gift certificates to the pleasure of choosing an antique today, discover why giving someone the freedom to choose has remained such an enduring idea — and why it feels particularly at home at Marple Antiques.
There is always someone who is difficult to buy for. Sometimes it is because they seem to have everything, but more often I think it is because we know their taste well enough to know that choosing for them is risky. People who love antiques and vintage pieces are a perfect example. Someone might love Art Deco glass, Japanese antiques, vintage jewellery or beautiful objects for the home, but knowing that doesn't necessarily tell you which piece they would choose. I see this all the time at Marple Antiques—something I particularly love may be completely overlooked while another piece immediately captures someone's attention.
It made me wonder when we first started solving this problem by simply giving people the choice. How long have gift certificates actually been around? The answer took me further back than I expected. Gift certificates in a recognisable form began appearing during the early decades of the twentieth century, but one story I particularly liked comes from Britain. In 1932, publisher Harry Raymond introduced Book Tokens. Rather than buying someone a book they might already own, or one that wasn't quite to their taste, you could let them choose their own.
Reading about those early book tokens made me smile, because books, antiques and vintage treasures have something in common when it comes to gifts. You can know perfectly well what someone loves and still have absolutely no idea which one they would choose. Over the years, gift certificates became increasingly familiar in department stores and specialist shops. Their appearance has changed considerably, as has the way we shop, but the idea behind them really hasn't. You are still choosing a gift for someone; you are simply leaving the final decision to them.
One of the things I enjoy most about Marple Antiques is seeing what different people notice. One person will be drawn immediately to a piece of glass, while another goes straight to the porcelain. A tiny Japanese netsuke can fascinate one collector, while somebody else might be captivated by a piece of vintage jewellery or an unusual object they have never encountered before. It isn't necessarily about value either. Sometimes there is simply something about a piece that makes you stop.
That is one of the pleasures of antiques and vintage pieces. Craftsmanship, rarity, provenance, design and age all matter, but sometimes we choose something for the simplest reason of all: we like it. We can imagine it in our home, wearing it or using it, and we don't particularly want to leave without it. Even when you know someone very well, predicting that moment of connection can be almost impossible.
Perhaps that is why the gift certificate has survived for so long. There is something else I like about it too—the choosing becomes part of the present. You can browse, read about different pieces, change your mind and perhaps discover something you hadn't been looking for at all. Sometimes a piece catches your attention immediately; other times you keep coming back to it. Occasionally you discover something you knew absolutely nothing about and suddenly find yourself wanting to know more. That is how collections have a habit of beginning.
Whatever is eventually chosen has already had a life before reaching its new owner. It may once have stood on somebody's dressing table, been brought out for family dinners, travelled across the world, been worn on special occasions or sat safely behind the glass of a cabinet for decades. Sometimes we know quite a lot about that earlier life; more often only fragments remain. I have always thought that is part of the fascination. These pieces don't arrive with a blank page. We simply become the next person to enjoy and care for them.
That is really the thinking behind the Marple Antiques Gift Certificate. Rather than trying to decide which antique or vintage piece another person would love, it gives them the pleasure of making that discovery for themselves. They might add something to a collection they have been building for years, find something beautiful for their home, choose a piece of vintage jewellery, or come across something completely unexpected and begin a collection they had never intended to start. I rather hope for the last one, because there is something quite wonderful about discovering an interest you never knew you had.
After all, many collections don't begin with a plan. They begin with one object that somebody simply couldn't leave behind. And perhaps that is the nicest thing about giving someone the choice—you don't know exactly what the present will eventually become. Neither do they.
Marple Antiques Gift Certificates are available online across Australia, giving someone special the pleasure of choosing an antique or vintage treasure—and a piece of history—for themselves.