O utside in the Chancery Lane business district in central London it’s a mild April morning. Well-dressed pedestrians emerge from the Tube station and stride to work. The stately building we’ve been directed to blends into its surroundings with a softly aristocratic façade.

Two guards greet us from behind a high mahogany desk and we ask if a picture or two would be allowed. A definite no. With steel-lined walls rumored to be nearly four feet thick and a 24-hour security presence the world’s largest collection of silver for sale has never been broken into. But the proprietors are not taking any chances.

An elevator takes us down into London’s silver wonderland.

Underground Treasure Trove

The London Silver Vaults originally opened as the Chancery Lane Safe Deposit in 1876 a place for affluent Londoners to store household silver jewelry and documents in underground store rooms. Slowly store owners also started to rent the vaults for their valuable stocks. When the original building was reduced to rubble by German bombers during World War II the underground vaults remained unharmed. In 1953 they were reopened as retail units at the request of many of the silver dealers who had previously rented space there.

It soon became known as an underground treasure trove a hunting ground for diplomats purchasing their silver tea services prior to overseas postings and American servicemen who wanted to bring home quality antique English silver to their wives and mothers. Word traveled and the Silver Vaults’ reputation for luxury silver drew celebrities royalty and well-heeled tourists from all over the world. While the Atlantic connection has remained strong today you are just as likely to hear Arabic cadences of English as American English.