Hand carved ivory with an entire constellation of sterling silver stars in pique work, this 19th century French serpentine carved ivory coin purse, dating c.1850-1900 is made in PARIS, likely a Dieppe carved panel on front with incredibly fine gadrooned border. Surface-mounted front and back in slightly convex plaques of ivory, then mounted with a silver cartouche which has never been monogrammed. It's like new, considering age, and the heavy moire silk interior is in moderate condition, divides into 3 open sections and one more which has silver mounting to lock it off from the others. These little coin purses were traditional gifts in France on the event of a child's confirmation. Often they came in boxed sets along with an aide d'memoire and/or a prayer book, all made to match. We have a few sets if you look on site, sold separately and still in their presentation box. The tradition being that the child would put their money inside and put it in the offerings box at their church or cathedral. Measurements are noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent condition on the ivory, the silver pique, but the interior isn't perfect. You will note is has splits in the moire silk at folds, one of each side, and shows use and wear. Beautiful display condition for age and type. From my own longtime collection, time to disburse them all. Rare to have the pique stars and graduated circles in silver fully complete, such as this one. One of my all-time favorites. Look for others, all sold separately.
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.
