From my own lifetime collections, a rare beauty, this 18th century to earliest 19th century seal with French steel, perhaps a silver coating but no marks on the matrix, ready and awaiting your own to be engraved or mounted. A superb 'balloon' or 'balon' form hand carved ivory handle, large and heavy in hand. One might think it commemorative or souvenir of The first 'aerostatic' (hot air balloon) flight in history which was an experiment carried out by the Montgolfier brothers at Versailles in 1783, but we do find the form even earlier. RARE, as noted, and from my own longtime collection, comparable I'm finding have sold well above 2000 GBP, some now priced above 3000, roughly $4500, US, and none of those bear the open matrix. Full measurements noted in the photos. Final images show it alongside others of my collection which are also going up for sale now, all sold separately**.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. There are no chips and no breaks. You will note one very small fine aging line from shrinkage of the natural material, very normal with advanced age. Beautifully matrix, previous monogram stripped, a legality perhaps from the first owner's estate. It is now ready for your own monogrammed matrix. Matrix is clean and is crafted in steel.
IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.
Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.
