c.1750s 18K Gold Antique French Snuff Box, Hair Mourning, - Ivory and 18K to 24K yellow gold (tested)

$1,095.00

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I've tested in several areas of the gold on this late 1700s to earliest 1800s French snuff box, and MIZAR tells me it is both 18K and 24K solid gold. The tiny French marks we've greatly enlarged are also early gold guarantee marks, as well, though I have not found the goldsmith's identification at listing time. If you recognize the marks, please do email and share your information. The snuff is a wonderful early memento complete with locks of hair worked into the cartouche where it has lain protected for 2 centuries under that original glass cover. Accented with gold monogram of the person whose hair is tucked inside, it survives all this time with nothing more than a couple of shrinkage cracks in the rounded ivory, as shown. The top and bottom and the interior remain unflawed. RARE piece, this one, and in excellent condition for its age. I have seen far worse in museums around the world. Truly a one of a kind treasure, and who knows whom we would end up with if we cloned from the DNA inside. Louis XVI to Napoleon, himself, perhaps? Or a soldiers lost to battle? A lover's gift? One can only imagine the history of this finely crafted memento of someone's lost loved one.

Very good to excellent. The age cracks aside, it is exquisitely preserved. The gold is brilliant, beautiful and well marked. Tested at 18K and 24K gold, one can be assured that whomever was memorialized here, they were an important and wealthy person's loved one.

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.