The British Governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) during 1830 to 1850 built a mansion in the central highlands to escape from the sweltering heat in the tropical island. It was converted to a hotel in 1891, the Grand Hotel. That was 21 years after James Taylor introduced tea plantations to the central highlands. Ceylon had become the world’s leading tea exporting country by then, which, it still is. Just 4 years later, the first concession to establish a shop in the Grand Hotel was issued to Mr J. A. de Silva. The small jewelry shop thus begun over 110 years ago is now the J A de Silva and Company Limited with an annual turnover of more than a million American dollars.