Subject to restrictions as below. Nearly 4" in diameter, this big and heavy antique carved ivory table snuff box is a stunning old beauty. In my own collections for decades, it dates earliest 1800s and has survived with a single flaw (see photo, age/shrinkage crack on side of lid). The specimen stone or paste gem inset up top is large and adds interest and value, as does that pristine tortoise shell lined interior. In it's time, as now, it would have been a spectacular collector's item, and on display. That green gem is, I am fairly though not completely certain, a paste gem and is backed by a green foil. With a loupe, I can see that the foil has a line - that is not a crack in the gem. It is 12mm in diameter. On the bottom of the box is a corresponding size inlay of tortoise shell, still in place. Again, large and spectacular, heavy in the hand. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent with a single noted flaw: it has an age/shrinkage crack on the side of the lathe-turned lid, shown well in our photos. In the decades I've owned this one, that line hasn't changed a bit, supported well by the shell lining, and no longer shrinking. It was there when I bought it, too.
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.
