A COLLEAGUE brought in an invoice and told us that the ‘Mr A Shales’, the customer shown on the document dated 1 December 1937, was his wife’s grandfather.

Arthur Shales had a scissors shop in La Motte Street and the invoice related to his wholesale purchases of stock for the shop.

Part of the interest lies in the prices: ‘quarter-dozen embroidery scissors @ 3/6 each, total 14 shillings (70 pence in new money) – and so on and so forth. The total invoice of quite a substantial order for commercial stock came to £3 16s 5d (about £3.80) and it is nice to see the unmetric, undecimal quantities measured in quarter-dozens and values in pounds, shillings and pence.

From the photographic archive of the Société Jersiaise we found two pictures, which are reproduced here with the Société’s permission. The first shows Mr Shales hard at work – sharpening some form of blade. The second shows him with his wife and mother standing outside their shop at 14 La Motte Street – the site now occupied by The Tanning Shop.

Arthur Shales’s shop in La Motte Street