With love from Grandad

This 1918 George V sovereign is probably the object I have owned for longest: it was a gift from my paternal grandfather Walter soon after my birth in 1960.  He died early the following year, aged 64, so I have no memory of him. The sovereign has remained wrapped in the little piece of chamois leather and the envelope in which it was given. Throughout my childhood it lived in the bottom of my money box, from which I periodically took it to unwrap and look at it. My father rarely talked about his childhood or his family, so what I know of my grandparents is mostly from my aunt, who shared photos and memories with me after my father's death. The extra is the only photo I have of my grandparents as young parents: they are holding my father and my aunt, with my great grandmother standing behind, outside their home in Wiltshire in the early 1930s.