From my own lifetime collections, a rare beauty, this early to mid 19th century seal with L B monogram on the matrix, and such a popular clasping hands form hand carved ivory handle. Over the decades I've had and sold 4 or 5 of this friendship or love token style seal. RARE, as noted, I think I paid 500 euro for the first one found at an early morning market in LeMans. I a crate of my own longtime collections, comparable I'm finding now have sold well above 1500 GBP, some now priced above 2500 GBP, roughly $3800, US, which sort of amazes me. I digress. 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 perhaps a very fine aging line from shrinkage of the natural material, proving advanced age, and I sincerely apologize for these greatly enlarged photos showing a little dirt in the recesses. I thought I had it cleaned better. A rectangular matrix with attractive canted corners, and L B engraved, the matrix is clean and is crafted in steel, a tiny bit of old steel corrosion visible.
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.
