In all my decades of collecting, I've only had 3-4 double-sided portrait miniature snuff boxes. It's an sweet family heirloom which has obviously been very well treasured indeed, 200 years old, a sweet little blond girl holding a toy and flowers and a red coral necklace. Red coral was thought then to have special protective powers particularly for young girls. Charmingly, the baby also holds a bread snack. The cover glass on this half is convex and a slightly flared upper diameter and it is the top of the snuff box. The box is truly exceptional old tortoise shell without any chips or breaks. One can easily imagine it on the desk of a young father, perhaps a gift of the child's mother and his wife, whose painting, portrait is mounted on the bottom half of the box. A flat cover glass allows it to rest perfectly on the tabletop, the man's 2 loves, one item. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, 200 years old. Really as perfectly preserved as any I've ever seen or owned, a true museum piece. No chips, no warp, no bug bites, no hairlines or cracks. As if it spent 200 years in a soft cloth in a safe. I see no flaws at all to note. I did not acid test the plaque fronts on either mount. Some are karat gold. It looks to me like these are not 18k.
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.
