Disbursing my own collections. A stunning old beauty with a painting on French opaline glass, safely kept beneath a convex cover glass (original), this was either originally made as a bonboniere, to be used later as a snuff box, or just originally as a snuff box. The body is alternating ivory and tortoise shell, and it is nearly perfect but is missing the bottom round as you can see in our images. Still displays beautifully. The box is a table snuff size, over 3" in diameter. The painting within is in grisaille, a variety of grays which has then been accented in gold. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good condition for age and type, though it has lost the bottom panel. But the exceptional condition and presentation means it displays beautifully in spite of that loss. You can see there are 2 thin age/shrinkage cracks in the side panels, tight and probably have been there for far longer than 100 years. Typical of the natural material as it ages, dries, shrinks a bit.
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. a
