According to the labels applied to the backs of these girandoles, they were once in the collection of Mr. Theodore A. Cory, who was born into a wealthy Welsh industrialist family. While little is known about his personal life, he married Winifred Graham on 18 July 1906. Winifred was a prolific novelist, authoring eighty-eight books in her lifetime. Between 1908 and 1924, she led a campaign to ban Mormon missionaries from the United Kingdom. Her 1911 novel The Love Story of a Mormon was adapted in 1922 into a silent film titled Trapped by the Mormons.
Specific documentation of Mr. Theodore Cory's collection has yet to be discovered, however, he was clearly more than passively interested given his participation in the auction of his brother Mr. S. Campbell Cory's estate, sold by Messrs. Bruton, Knowles and Co. of Gloucester, 1-2 December 1909, where he was recorded as purchasing 'a gold-mounted tortoiseshell souvenir, presented by King Victor Emmanuel to the Comtesse de Castiglione' (Clifton Society [Bristol], 2 December 1909, p.13, The British Newspaper Archive). Other bidders in this sale included legendary English furniture connoisseurs such as 'Mr. Mallett of Bath' and 'Mr. Symonds of London' (ibid.) indicating that Mr. Theodore Cory's brother had an unusually exceptional collection. While this pair of girandoles is not specifically mentioned in the write-ups of the auction, it is plausible that it was also acquired from this sale.