Burlington arcade prices are silly. Also they usually have that aloof 'I am somehow superior to you' attitude that you find in many London shops. They're shopkeeprs, tradesmen/women - they need to get over themselves. I go window shopping but would never buy for myself. Much of their stock is rubbish as well.
Pretty benign until the moment a soldier is ordered to shoot a citizen on the streets and he says "I'm not doing that, he's a British citizen!" then his commanding officer reminds him that his oath is the the (benign) Queen, not his fellow citizen.
Now some may say that's far fetched, to them I would say Kent State and Bloody Sunday - just for starters.
Yes we can vote. But not on any of the above.
I once asked an eminent lawyer that if, in the UK, we voted for a government that intended to remove the royal family and that was their declared policy how it would actually happen?
He told me that within the laws as they stand it is impossible to get rid of the royal family.
My reply was - So, we DO live in a dictatorship then?"
"Of sorts" he replied.
In the UK we do not elect our head of state.
When we 'buy' a piece of land we do not actually own it. We merely own the rights of access to it. True ownership remains with the crown.
If we discover valuable minerals in our garden they do not belong to us. Crown property mineral rights prevail.
Our armed forces do not swear allegiance to the government, nor the people. Only to the crown.
These are just a few examples of facts that demonstrate that there are varying levels of 'democracy'. In light of the above, to complain about the 'undemocratic EU' and by so, imply that the UK is a shining example of democracy in action is nothing short of silly really.
Just sayin'
I don't think you should age the insert either. If you look at a lot of vintage rollies in a collectors shop you'll see that the old bezels are more often than not in remarkably good, that is to say, dark black condition.
Lovely piece wear it well.