Sampson Mordan & Co. Decorative Boxes

Gorgeous trinket box or powder jar featuring an ornate scroll and lattice design sterling silver overlay over a pretty pink porcelain. The mark on the bottom is not legible.

Hallmarked in London in 1889 by Barnards, this attractive Victorian, antique, sterling silver biscuit box, has swirled and sunken half fluting, in the Queen Anne style. It has a flus...

Very pretty sterling silver Tiffany & Co. jewelry ball, box, number 35378 Weighted, 7.

A fine vintage signed silver trinket box or pillbox. By Tiffany & Co. In sterling silver. In the form of a sitting hen. The chicken has a hinge to its tail and opens up with applied pressure to the chest. Marked to the base. Simply a wonderful Tiffany trinket box...

Victorian Period, sterling silver-mounted (unmarked, but tested) Cowrie shell snuff box with hinged lid, England, Ca. 1840's. Measures 3 inches long x 2 inches deep x almost 2 inches high. Sterling silver mount is engraved Mrs. Margaret Burke...

Hallmarked in Birmingham in 1843 by Francis Clark, this attractive, Victorian, Antique Sterling Silver Snuff Box, features an ornate border, engine turned decoration and a gilt inter...

A scarce fine quality antique silver-inlaid solid brass betel nut box (Lutuan), dating to the second half of the 19th / early 20th century, hand-crafted in Mindanao, Philippines. Boxes such as this were used to store the areca nut (also known as the betel nut) which would be wrapped in a betel leaf with lime paste and other ingredients, often tobacco, for chewing. Similar to the European tea caddy, these boxes often served as a way to impress while showing off ones wealth. Betel chewing was prevalent in the southern Philippines as in much of the rest of Southeast Asia. Wealthier Maranao families on Mindanao were able to afford elaborate silver-inlaid brass betel boxes such as this example. Such boxes were used to show off to guests and from which they were offered betel and the other component such as leaves and lime to make up the betel quid. Rare large size, most extant examples of such boxes tend to measure around 5 inches in length. At slightly more than 7.75 inches the example here is larger than most. The distinctive decorative box features a very heavy strong-box like rectangular shaped chest form with canted corners, copper handles, and a conforming hinged lid, lifting open to reveal an interior divided into three compartments covered by four hinged lids. Each of these doors is inlaid with silver in stylized orchid flower patterns. Exceptionally executed throughout, the arabesque silver inlaid exterior is decorated to the top with a large orchid motif within scrolling obid-obid (stylized rope) borders. The front, back and sides are inlaid with sets of stylized tail feathers of the sari-manok bird beneath which are unusual, highly stylized whimsical zoomorphic faces that appear like cat or tiger faces. (Such stylisation is accounted for by Southeast Asian Islamic preferences to avoid the overt and this potentially idolatrous representation of animal and human forms. Designs such as these are drawn from a local design repertoire that has its origins in wood carving. Although the spread of Islam in the Philippines began in the 14th century, mostly through the influence of Muslim merchants from the western Malay Archipelago, decorative arts in this design remain exceptionally rare. This lutuan represents a fine example of Islamic metalwork from the most eastern outreach of Islamic art and civilisation: Mindanao island being significantly further east than even China – artwork from Islamic Southeast Asia remains chronically under-represented in the world’s major collections of Islamic art. PROVENANCE / ACQUISITION Acquired from highly reputable auction house, Austin Auction Gallery, established 1983, Austin, Texas. References Brownrigg, H., Betel Cutters...

An antique English sterling silver and cut-glass vanity, dresser, or bath/powder room jar box, Victorian period, circa late-19th century, England. The sterling silver top/lid has a r...

Victorian-Style, sterling silver jewelry/trinkets box, having paw feet and a hinged lid Birmingham, England, year-hallmarked for 1960, Adie Bros. - makers. Lid is engine-turned in d...

Silver Sugar box, Vienna 1867-1872 An Austrian-Hungary silver sugar box with hinged lid. On the lid a rose with leaves as knob. A rectangular box with beautiful round scalloped body...

19th century Brass inlaid walnut box. This stunning decorative box or jewelry box has beautiful brass inlay and trim with the original tufted satin interior.

A fine antique silver box. By Tiffany & Co. In sterling silver. With a gilt interior and engraved foliate swags to the lid. Monogrammed 'AMB' to the center of the lid. Fully mar...