Relay 'gift set' (1927) : a golden gift to remember

Alongside the inventiveness of the new technology being installed in Britain's telephone systems, there was a certain imaginative novelty in the types of gifts made to commemorate grand occasions. This relay gift set was no exception.

The glass presentation box contains a set of ten relays exactly like the ones used in London's first automatic exchange, only these were partly covered in a fine layer of golden gilt.

Relays themselves were simple electrically-operated switches. They were used in a variety of places and sat at the heart of most automatic exchange equipment. The gift set was presented to the Post Office in 1927 to celebrate the automation of the Holborn exchange, in London.