How did the tradition of _____ anniversaries get started for weddings?

Question

I can see how a clock or something made of paper would be a fitting first anniversary gift, and how granite would be fitting for the ninetieth anniversary... but how did the ones in the middle (particularly the more obscure, like the sixteenth tungsten anniversary) get established?

Also, how and when did the whole setup become standardized? Was there a board of wedding gift suppliers, or was it a newspaper columnist, or something?

And, finally, how come not all of them have a gift? Obviously it would be tiresome to compile a list that went 1-90 counting every single anniversary, but it is roughly so from 1-20. It is, actually a complete list in the UK, but in the US there's no gift for the 17th and 19th anniversaries. Why is that?

Answer 1

Well, I'm not sure why each year doesn't have a gift...maybe people thought that after 20 years they wouldn't give gifts as often? :-)  The really obscure ones are very dated.  For instance I know one year is tin, of all things.  We don't think of it as a gift now, but 100 years or more ago, people used things such as tin but those items weren't always readily available, or affordable.