Fabulous complete antique French Charles X to Louis Philippe era vermeil or 18k gold on .800 (nearly sterling) silver 15pc tea serving set including 12 teaspoons, teapot strainer, tea scoop & sugar tongs, all beautifully preserved in the original Napoleon III Boulle style brass inlaid rosewood storage and/or presentation box! The first thing you see here is the extent to which the maker or retailer went in the presentation of the contents. A truly superb old box, in deep, richly grained rosewood veneers and accented with brass edging, strip inlays and a large, gorgeous reticulated brass "Boulle" style cartouche. Beautiful! Inside are an equally opulent collection of old French vermeil implements, the complete tea service to compliment your existing tray, pot, and elegant old French Limoges cups & saucers (dripping with raised gold enamel for sure). The French Minerve or Minerva hallmark on all pieces, the tiny number "2" within them designating .800 or better silver content so their not quite at the .925 standard for sterling but solid silver nonetheless. The silversmith marks are for Antoine Vautrain (Plasait successor), Paris circa 1824-1844. An exquisite addition to your existing fine silver service or French vermeil tea set!

Very good condition. The exterior of the box shows hardly a sign of its age, a few small surface marks likely and one slight lift of the brass strip inlay near the front of the lid. No missing or replaced inlays that I can see though, beautiful! Original fitted interior and linings but there is some spot staining in one or two areas. No damage or repairs to any of the silver though, all as pristine as can be with just a bit of wear to the gold/vermeil plating! Original hardware & lock but no key. See pictures for measurements.

Return Policy:
We always honor a 3-day return on our items, and guarantee them to be as described. Money back, less shipping costs, which are not refundable, so ask questions if necessary. We're easy to deal with.

Shipping and Handling Policy:

You are very important! Our fine inventory is very important. And your ranking of our performance is also very important! We wish to keep our 4.9 - 5 star ratings in all categories. Customer satisfaction is paramount with us, so if you're thinking we have not deserved your highest marks, please contact us and allow us to be sure your concerns are completely satisfied before you rank us. We aim for 5-star transactions every day, and depend upon you to tell us directly if we have not yet met that standard for your transaction. Thank you! We most often use USPS for our shipping needs but will be happy to ship by another carrier if you prefer.

We charge only actual postage & insurance, never a handling fee and never for packaging materials. Ebay is now requiring that our clients rank us on "shipping". The shipping price, speed and handling are actually under the sole control of the delivering postal agency, not Antiques & Uncommon Treasure so please remember that and leave us high DSR rankings. As always, please also feel free to contact us if you have any problems or concerns, we'll do what we can to ensure a happy and mutually enjoyable transaction.

Insurance has been eliminated as an option by ebay, forcing us sellers to either ship your items without insurance or assume that expense also. We always insure our items BUT, more importantly, pack them extremely well knowing that most are not replaceable. Again, damage in transit, while rare in our experience, is due to the postal agency handling and not caused by Antiques & Uncommon Treasure. Please remember that when leaving DSR ratings. Thanks!

Our shipping days are Tuesday and Friday, paid items will be shipped on the first shipping day after payment is received (except when special circumstances exist). We prefer to use USPS whenever possible, and require all packages to be insured. If you prefer another method of shipment, please mention it. We charge only actual expense of shipment/insurance, except in the case of larger items which must have special wood crates built. Wood crate charge, when applicable, is a flat $35.00 in addition to actual postage & insurance charges.

Other Information:
8.75% sales tax applicable as of April 1st, 2009 for shipments & sales within the state of California, no exceptions. If you are within CA and are a dealer buying for resale, you must provide us your active resale certificate # and acknowledgment of intent to resell or we will have to collect sales tax. No exceptions.

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