A tiny portrait miniature of Marie-Antoinette remains charming and complete under its slightly convex cover glass and vermeil mount atop this beautiful little snuff or patch box. While many would date this one to the King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette era, a rather typical navette-shaped patch or snuff box, I'm quite certain it's a 'revival' souvenir from mid-1800s, instead of 1700s. I can see but can't seem to capture the tiny punchmark of a profile boar's head, indicating it is .800/1000 silver with a heavy layering of 18k gold (vermeil) and is not a gold snuff. While the mark was in use from 1838, it doesn't necessarily date the box, since all unmarked precious metal objects that come through an auction house in France must be assayed to confirm the metal, so sometimes a much older item gets a more recent silver or gold mark in order to verify it before auction. The box is tortoise shell, and therefore note the restrictions below, please. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, the only imperfection I find is a place along the side bottom where there is either a natural or friction-rubbed flaw to the tortoise shell. It is visible in at least one of the photos for your review. Frame and box remain in fine condition, no cracks or chips, all fit fine, hinge and clasp working. Just repeating, this is mid-1800s, I think, a revival of a souvenir patch box of nearly 100 years earlier.
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.
