RARE and fabulous late 1700s to earliest 1800s pristine small ivory box, double-hinged and filled with 28 perfect little dominoes, topped with a portrait miniature of a young man. The box is vest-pocket sized, and the hand painted portrait that tops it was obviously originally mounted (see photos of inside). Perhaps a gift? Typical tiny domino sets made similarly but in bone are known to be the work of Napoleonic era prisoners of war. This seems not to be one of those, as I'd anticipated it might be when I found it. Rare to find a game set like this. Note the hinged front panel of the box, which precludes it ever having been a snuff box, which is somewhat mimics. Piano hinged, very fine craftsmanship. Not a single chip nor hairline or age crack in any of that fine ivory.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, The box hasn't a single flaw, nor do any of the domino bricks. The 1/4" thick frame mounted on top is superb, and apart from a very thin tight hairline crack to the right of the young man's face (marked on photos for your review), there is nothing to report as flaw.
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.
