A spectacular little patch box, perhaps a box which once held a gentleman's gambling chips, or possibly a snuff box, this one is very special and rare! You see there is a hand painted landscape, 'portrait' miniature mounted on one side with generous though thin 18k gold mounting plaque as surround. An elegant small box of fine antique ivory, tip it up and you find the other side is just as beautiful and very intriguing - what at first appear as foil or small jewels are a concentric series of indentations. Shiny and teal colored, they reflect the color up through a spaced cover glass which is braced at center by a gold-foil decorated little pillar. Surrounded by a similar 18k gold plaque, very beautiful, but tilt it and you soon realize it is a game. Inside there is a tiny metal ball, steel or perhaps it is silver - the game is to roll it into the highest number/scored holes. It appears there might have once been a numeric outer border. A simple little game, but I've never seen anything quite like it in an early box. Interior has painted gaming card which, again, makes me think this might have been a case for gambler's chips. I have a couple of those, about this same size, still with the old chips fitted inside. Falls into the snuff or patch box collector realm, but added significance for game collectors, and gaming "jeton" (chip) collectors.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. This would be Louis XIV to XVI, and one certainly has a feel of Versailles about it, or Fontainebleau. When I purchased it, the cover glass over the landscape painting was very sick glass and one couldn't really even see through it. Fortunately, it was 40mm x 1.5mm which is replaceable by a fine sapphire crystal for a watch. I did order the sapphire and did replace the cover glass so you have two beautiful sides to enjoy. A little of the old painting was adhered to the old ruined glass and so you will notice it to the right edge of that little work of art. Painting is on paper. The bulk of this one is made in fine 1700s ivory, so restrictions apply as noted below. Full measurements noted on photos.
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.
