A wonderful jewelry box, 19th century French with hunt theme dancing all across the 4 sides and a thick beveled old glass mirror set into the top. Raised on ornamental wire legs, it's still got its original silk satin lining. Just a pretty thing, nice larger size, and has a hinged clasp. Were it smaller, I'd say it's likely it was someone's Grand Tour trinket or souvenir, but it was the size and hunt theme which drew me to it. A ripple to the bevel of the thick glass, it's definitely a step up. It is not silver or bronze, it is not super-heavy. It is just a lovely old thing.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. This one would be Napoleon III era, I think, typical use of contrasting alloys of machine-pressed brass and white metal. All the look of far more expensive bronze caskets but at a fraction of their cost. A little of the old silvering is missing. My great temptation is to remove the silk inner liner of the lid, take out that glass and strip the mirror backing from it, leaving it a thick beveled glass see-through lid. And then, lovely vitrine that it would be, to fill it with favorite small collectibles for display. Simple to do. You can ask me if you buy and decide you want to clear the beveled glass. The box is 5.5" x 4" and 3.5" high (plus the addition of the legs).
