"Andenken and Gad Ellter", (I'm not sure if I'm getting that correct - please help us?), buildings in an exquisitely detailed wheel-etching on top of this old beauty. A rare find! This is a mid-sized c.1830-70 Bohemian wheel-engraved souvenir sugar casket, box. Yes, they used to lock away the very precious luxury, sugar, to keep the servants from eating it. The precious commodity spawned an industry of stunning decorative glass boxes with locks, similar to this one. Many old French opaline boxes, some Bohemian glass ones - which brings us to this beauty. The earliest of these sugar caskets were smaller. The late 1700s ones were about half the size of this later model. This one is actually the least damaged, I think, of the ruby-flashed Bohemian ones I've ever owned, showing not a single tiny nip to the glass, only rubs to the ruby flashing on the bottom. It is a charming 4.55" long, 3.25" tall and 2.75" front to back. A Czech glass art spectacular find, likely Moser. Unfortunately, while it appears the lock will work, we have no original key for this one. We'll price it without key, and if we can match one to it we'll come back and annotate the listing info, and raise the price a bit.
Very good to excellent condition. Brass fitting, working lock (as noted, no key at listing, sorry). I find no chips nor cracks nor hairlines, and the wheel engraved spa scene is just fabulous on this one. Photos tell all. No chips, no cracks, no breaks. I should have polished the brass for you, and I'll do so before sending it out to the next owner.
