Antique Sterling Silver Lady's Vanity Travelling Case

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About the Item

This is a stunning antique Victorian lady's traveling case, the sterling silver topped jars and bottles have hallmarks for London 1852 and the makers mark of the renowned silversmith Thomas Johnson Ist. This traveling case is made of coromandel wood, which was and still is extremely rare and expensive and would only have been used on very high quality items. The spectacular coromandel case is outlined with brass stringing and has a vacant shield shaped cartouche ready for your own engraving. The interior is well fitted with nine sterling silver topped jars and bottles, and a couple of mother of pearl mounted manicure tools. There is a sprung concealed drawer on one side and another one in the bottom. The bottom one is lined with velvet and provides storage for jewellery. The case also has two secret compartments. The first is concealed in the inside of the lid, which can be removed to reveal a secret tooled leather hiding place f or letter and documents, and the second is under one of the silver topped jars and would be ideal for hiding rings. The case can be safely locked with the key. It is a beautiful piece which would look stunning on your dressing table. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully restored in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 18 x Width 30.5 x Depth 22 Dimensions in inches: Height 7.1 x Width 12.0 x Depth 8.7 Thomas Johnson I - was a well known Victorian silversmith who was based at Dyers Building, Holborn, London. He registered his mark in Jan 1850. He specialised in smaller silver items: boxes, traveling cases, jars, spoons etc. which required attention to detail. Travelling cases became very popular towards the end of the 18th century. They were manufactured specifically to accompany upper class gentleman during travel. Dressing cases were originally rather utilitarian but they spoke volumes about their owners’s wealth and place in society, as at that time, traveling was only done by the elite. Gentleman’s dressing cases would contain bottles and jars for colognes, aftershaves and creams as well as essential shaving and manicure tools. As these boxes became more popular, many further traveling item options were offered for inclusion. By the early Victorian era, ladies also began to travel and suddenly their requirements were anything but utilitarian! Ladies dressing cases could feature a wide range of decorative bottles and jars as well as a vast array of beautifcation tools, all designed with pure luxury in mind. The exterior of the box became almost as important as the interior and these boxes started being veneered with beautiful exotic woods from all over the world. As demand for gentleman’s boxes lessened, the dressing case started to also become known by the more feminine term ‘vanity box’. These boxes, with their excessive price tags, were now considered as true works of art and beauty in themselves, and were often bought as status symbols rather than actual traveling companions. Some of the finest examples of travelling cases made from exotic wood with gold and silver fittings come from: Walter Thornhill, Betjamann & Sons and Jenner & Knewstub. Calamander wood or Coromandel wood is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesita Thwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood. Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel.

Place of Origin:
England
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1852
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully restored in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 05287a1stDibs: LU9506970532

Located in Hele, Devon, GB

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