This listing is for a gorgeous antique German silver electro-plated brass jewelry casket or jewelry box, c. 1900. The box is decorated with elaborately embossed Art Nouveau decoration covering the dome shaped top and all four sides. Box has a swing handle and an attached key hole cover with a fancy hinged cover. The handle and the edges of the box have been gilded which contrasts with the silver body of the box. The interior of the box has a blue colored linen type fabric lining. The wide hinge is tight and the box opens and closes correctly.
Antique Erhard & Sohn Gilt Metal Jewel Casket. 5.2" x 2.9" deep x 2.8" tall, 5" tall with handled. verry heavy for it's size, unsure if it's brass or bronze. Very well cast with no apparent markings, attributed to Erhard & Sohn of Germany. With 2 keys
his two sons in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1844. Carl Gottlieb Erhard, the priest-son from Großheppach, settled in Schwäbisch Gmünd when he married Debler-Tochter. He became a partner of the company Teilhaber der Firma Gerber & Co, and acquired it with a settlement of 100.000 guilders in 1843. He established the company Erhard & Söhne with help of the sons Carl and Julius in 1844, which is today the oldest producing factory in the city continued in sixth generations as the single family business.
Carl Gottlieb Erhard procured to fill the market gap that the fire gilt hardwares were bought abroad at very expensive price. So he gathered highly trained experts for his business around a market, also his sons got the best education as Ziseleur and engraver. Julius was the creative one, Carl the commercial leader, on this occasion.
Their business wrote the history of the city henceforth. They especially specialized on fashionable accessories (Galanteriewaren) of all the type out of brass and bronze, sometimes silver-plates or gilds. Highest skill was applied in their miniature-works, especially Doll-room-furniture were sought-after items for the collectors, which include bookbinders, glove, buttons, buckles, etc.
At the beginning their main markets were England, America and the German states which ware not unified yet. In 1864 the factory was enlarged. The company tried new inventions again and again and was called "Testing factory". Soon the company had 3000 employees that it build another factory-building in 1900.
Besides the specialization at the processing of bronze, brass, copper and tin, also articles of noble-metal were manufactured. With the world-patent for the manufacture of brass-inlay (1904), the production of doll-room-accessories and furniture out of gilt brass, that the big export-hit was between 1900 and 1910 into the USA, the business finally won world-format, and the invention of the Schleuderaschers (spin-ashtray), Roulette type ash tray (1938). The company was granted the patent for the thermo-mug in 1956. The extensive product spectrum of the business included extravaganzas - churches-use, luxury-goods, cult-appliances, jewellery and game-merchandise as well as electrotype-plastic copies of historic culture-objects.
This company is very known in the collector-scene as much sought after items for the antique doll-rooms since the company produced the highest quality Ormolu doll-room-accessories and furnitures until mid-1920s. Golden years of the company were the first years of the 20th century. When it was put on the mechanical engineering more and more and with the game-merchandise-production, it went downhill.
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