The black Watch Tobruk & Argylls Slim River 1941 Hallmarked silver compact.

Simply beautiful item that needs more research but here is a start. Silver compact that was saved from being melted down due to its weight in scrap £80 in June 2026 , Retailed by Gieves Ltd, 21 Old Bond Street.
A square sterling silver hinged case with engine-turned barleycorn finish, retailed by Gieves Ltd of 21 Old Bond Street, London, in the original blue leather presentation box with cream silk and velvet lining, the lid silk-printed with the Royal Appointment crests and the Gieves Ltd address.
The face is engraved with two regimental cap badges and four panels of black-filled lettering:
∙ Upper left: cap badge of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) , captioned JOHN above and TOBRUK below.
∙ Lower right: cap badge of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders , captioned LINDSAY above and SLIM RIVER below.
Hallmarks
Struck inside the case: sponsor’s mark, anchor (Birmingham Assay Office), lion passant (sterling), and capital R for the Birmingham hallmarking year 1941-42. The Birmingham date letter changed in July, so this case was assayed between July 1941 and July 1942, placing its manufacture squarely in the period of the two actions commemorated on its face.
Retailer
 
Although retailed and boxed by Gieves of London, the case itself was assayed at Birmingham, the principal centre for silver smallwork of this kind in the period. Birmingham assay with London retail is a normal combination for cases, cigarette boxes and dressing-table silver of the 1930s and 1940s.
Identification of the inscriptions
JOHN, Black Watch, Tobruk
The 2nd Battalion, The Black Watch was part of the 14th Infantry Brigade of the British 70th Division, which relieved the Australians inside the besieged fortress of Tobruk in October 1941. During Operation Crusader, the breakout from Tobruk on 21 November 1941, the central attack at strongpoint Tiger was made by the 2nd Battalion, Black Watch in a charge under massed machine-gun fire, which incurred 201 casualties. The tanks failed to provide the planned support and within one hour over 300 men had become casualties, but the objective was taken.
LINDSAY, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Slim River
Slim River is in the Malay Peninsula (modern Perak, Malaysia), not the Middle East. The battle was fought on 7 January 1942 during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. The 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, regarded as one of the best jungle-fighting units in Malaya, faced a Japanese armoured assault along the Slim River and were overwhelmed. The 2nd Argylls at Slim River were commanded by Lt. Col. Lindsay Robertson. The first four Japanese tanks were mistaken for Punjab Bren Carriers and drove straight through the Argylls, dividing the battalion. Robertson and his party attempted to evade capture and Robertson was killed on 20 January 1942. Only 94 Argylls returned to British lines.
The pairing of the name LINDSAY with the Argylls and Slim River, on a case hallmarked within months of the battle, possibly a direct reference to Lt. Col. Lindsay Robertson . So at the height of the war 1941-42 someone commissioned this beautiful piece as a personal memento surely a family member or fellow officer, commemorating two named officers (a John in 2nd Black Watch at Tobruk, and Lindsay of 2nd Argylls at Slim River being remembered together ,so maybe they did not survive.
Summary
Sterling silver hinged ladies mirrored compact, Hallmarked Birmingham 1941, retailed in fitted box by Gieves Ltd, 21 Old Bond Street, London. Engine-turned face, engraved with the cap badges of The Black Watch and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with engraved name and battle honour panels for Tobruk 1941 and Slim River 1942. A personal commemorative piece of the highest quality, contemporary with the actions it records.