Reply card from the Grand Duke Adolphe message-reply card (1st issue) used as a message card from Luxembourg-Ville, July 7, 1906, to F. Grahlert & Company in Bangkok, Siam, received August 8,1906.
F. Grahlert was the jeweler to His Majesty, King Chulalornkorn.
F. Grahlert's shop in Bangkok in the early 1900s
Arnold Wright and Oliver T. Breakspear, writing in Twentieth Century Impressions of Siam (Bangkok, 1908; republished by White Lotus Press, Chiang Mai, 2003), provide this description of F. Grahlert & Co., Jewellers, at p. 275:
Mr. F. Grahlert came to Bangkok some eighteen years ago as jeweller to his Majesty the King. A few years later he started business on his own account, his shop, which is in close proximity to the royal palaces, being the first of its kind opened in the city. He still enjoys the patronage of his Majesty the King, for the firm are jewellers to the Court by special appointment, and are constantly being entrusted with the execution of important commissions by their Majesties the King and Queen of Siam and his Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The company employs upwards of fifty native craftsmen, who are highly skilled in the art of fashioning gold and silver into articles of most artistic and delicate design, and their work very justly and naturally is held in the highest favour. The firm's premises would well repay an inspection; their stock is a large and varied one, and is effectively and tastefully displayed. Whether the articles are of Oriental or European design, their quality can be guaranteed.
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