THE Advertiser can exclusively reveal that members of the Bromsgrove Guild have sent an extraordinary letter to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth claiming the famous Buckingham Palace gates, made by the guild in the early 1900s, were never paid for.

Members of the guild, which was believed to have closed down in the early 70s but was actually bought out by American company Globex Corporation, were sorting through old files and receipts at the end of 2014 and discovered that one of its most famous works had not been paid for, in full.

The old receipt, dated 1911 and stamped with a royal watermark, showed that the final payment for an amount of £58 15s 0d for the main gates of the palace had never been made.

After being checked by historians and family of original members of the guild, legal advice was sought before making the unprecedented step to get in touch with officials at Buckingham Palace.

Dr. Nguyen Van Phuoc, from Hutz law firm, representing the Bromsgrove Guild and Globex said: "What is a contract? Webster's defines it as 'an agreement under the law which is unbreakable. Which is unbreakable.'

"I believe this to be an obvious case of one party owing money to another for goods or services provided. It was probably down to clerical error or maybe that start of the war or something - I'm not sure how people kept records back then. Either way, money is owed and needs to be paid."

A spokesman from Globex Corporation, a high-tech company, said: "If the Royal Family cannot come up with the money then we will have to no choice but to ask for the gates back.

"I'm sure we could find a place for them in Bromsgrove. Maybe as an entrance to High Street or erect them outside Argos."

The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898–1966) was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert.

The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and other mediums.

Other famous works, apart from the gates to Buckingham Palace, include Liverpool's Liver birds and The statue of Hygieia at Chequers.

At the time of going to press a spokesman from Royal Communications was not available for comment.