On offer here I have a very rare antique Georgian or early Victorian shagreen cased necessaire or etui containing a bodkin, stiletto, scissors and a mirror.
The case itself stands about 13.5cms high with the base 6cms and the top 7cms.
It is wrapped externally in very fine shagreen and mounted with gilt metal. It has an exceptionally fine monogramme to one side of the initials EBJ and on the other which I initially thought to be initials is actually Venice which is most unusual. Possibly then an item bought on the Grand Tour?
The fitted interior opens to a silk lined lid and the gilt metal interior appears to be lined in a patterned paper.
As you can see this would originally have had many more tools. What we have here is a bodkin, the steel stilletto, unusually a mirror, and a pair of scissors which are sadly broken.
They all have the same pattern engraved on them and the scissors and stiletto have a tiny mark which is possibly a boars head for French silver so I think these will be silver gilt, but the mark is really tiny and hard to work out even under heavy magnification.
As you can see it has been well used over the last couple of hundred years!
There is some discolouration and wear to the shagreen, the top mount at the lid is loose and held on by one pin only, general wear to the gilding and as mentioned the scissors are broken. Please refer to the pics which show all this for you but if you need any more info or pics please feel free to get in touch.
It is however a rare survivor in quite reasonable antique condition.
This is on at a low start for such a rare object and there is no reserve so good luck!
Please also take a look at other interesting items I will be listing over the next few days.
I am a lover of all things antique, vintage and of artistic merit. I have a broad general knowledge of antiques built up over many years. My descriptions are my opinion of what these items are etc. It is always difficult to be exact with many items, particularly porcelain, which is unmarked and has no definite provenance so please use the pictures to help with the description. If you have any better knowledge or information regarding any of the items I list I will always be interested to learn of it.
Equally if you have any further questions or need further pics please feel free to get in touch!
Please note:
within the UK I can usually do a combined postage price but it does depend on the items for sale so please request an estimate if interested in more than one item.
International buyers, I am only posting using the Global Shipping programme on Ebay and this sadly means due to custom issues etc it is not possible to combine postage.