Another from my own collections of many decades, travel and dealing in fine French antiques. The very unique patterning of multi-color alloy bees, the symbol of Napoleon, and all of those tiny pique dots of abalone, combined with the opulent chocolate and cognac tortoise shell made this one just exceptional. I've never seen another like it at all. Beautifully crafted and very well preserved, it's one of the centerpieces of my own collection.
Very good to excellent for age and type, a bit tattering of age on interior in moire silk, claret red, gold foil pages in the thick notebook within, as well as the calendar. There is also an ivory stylus which is within the 3 ribbon loops (1 loop is dislodged from the back side), which didn't make it into the photos but does remain with its place. A silk velvet spine shows some loss of nap. This one has age, but also has excellent panels of tortoise shell front and back, no damage. And the bees, the abalone pique - magnificent! 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.
