A personal favorite (I do realize I have many personal favorites in my lifetime collections), this is an 18th century patch box or perhaps snuff box, with the tortoise shell lining which could indicate snuff. Obviously, it has been treasured and not used. Likely a young Mistress of some Royal or Noble, tucked away perhaps to entice the Master but not to be found by generations of family. This is a story more and more prevalent, as generations divided estates and sliced up the wealth and properties of 2 centuries of Blue Book living, ultimately the antiques and boxed up treasures seem to last to come to auction. Or maybe she's passed from collector to auction house for centuries. I speculate because she is so beautifully kept. My love of fine art makes her appealing to me, as much as does her captured moment in history. Beautifully done, I do not see a signature. I did not, however, take her mount from the snuff box, firmly set as she is. Sometimes opening these up reveals a signature along the very outer edge, kept from view by the mount. Likewise, I did not wish to scrape the gold mount, but I do think it will test karat gold. The most typical for France in her era would be 18k. I am unsure. Sometimes if I remove the mount, it's easier to test from a backside scrape. Also, photos of the little paintings are always clearer and without glares if I take them out. I will not, however, pry.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. It is very often the case that we have small age hairlines or outright cracks to ivory, and chips or bug bites to tortoise shell, but I see neither on this fine example. Small in size, more typical of early to mid-1700s snuff or patch boxes. It could have been either. Full measurements are noted on the 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.
