English Silver Plate Art Deco Style Round Shape Covered Cigarette Box

Mid 19th century English sheffield silver plate tea caddy / thin biscuit with exterior design details and attached covered top . The tea caddy ...

Old English sheffield silver plate covered biscuit box / tea caddy with exterior floral design details & finial top cover. The tea caddy / box is in good condition. Minor wear consis...

19th century English sheffield silver plate footed tea caddy / thin biscuit with exterior design details and attached covered top. The tea caddy is in...

Old English sheffield silver plate covered biscuit box / tea caddy with exterior design details. The tea caddy / box is in good condition. Minor wear consistent with age / use. Maker...

A fine antique signed silver dresser box. By Tiffany & Co. In sterling silver with a gold washed interior. Engraved to the body and lid with floral and rocaille devices. The lid i...

WMF German Art Deco Round Silver Plated Box with Lid. A small Art Deco delicate silver plated box with nice details. Made in Germany. Silver-plated Art Deco WMF box...

A smart and elegant circular solid silver biscuit box with a simple beaded border to top and bottom. The lid fits perfectly, the hinge in full working order, the box is fully hallma...

Offered is a stunning Sheffield silver keepsake box dating to 1900, with associated hallmark. This small box includes a clean interior and rounded corners. The box is free of names or initials, but would have been used to house keepsakes such as jewelry or cufflinks. A well maintained, elegant piece, this antique silver box is an excellent addition to any silver collection. Trinket or keepsake boxes have taken on many forms since their first conception in ancient times. However their purpose remains the same; to store jewelry and other items precious to the owner. Originally, these boxes were used specifically for jewelry. These were in common use as early as 5000 BC in Ancient Egypt, when the majority of Egyptians, both male and female, wore jewelry. Boxes were used to keep these gemstone encrusted items safe. In Ancient Rome, jewelry was a status symbol. Rings and brooches were utilized to represent ones status in society. Again, boxes were needed for security and storage purposes. Finding early examples of these are quite rare. Victorian and Edwardian examples of trinket boxes are far more common. This is because owning jewellery was a luxury until the Victorian era- let alone possessing so much a box was needed to store it all. Fine jewelry and other items became available to the masses after the industrial revolution due to the reduction in production costs. This led to a demand for trinket boxes, which were much smaller than jewelry boxes and therefore better suited to the needs of the middle class who did not yet possess an abundance of jewelry. In Victorian households, collectables and other items of interested were also stashed inside these boxes. This is why they are known as trinket or keepsake boxes, rather than just jewelry boxes, although of course jewelry was also stored in them. Trinket boxes were produced in large numbers around this time. Many were lined with colored plush or velvet or rich wood. More elaborate designs had interior divisions and trays for rings and other pieces of jewellery. It was also common to see trinket boxes so small that they could only contain one item, such as a single ring. Ornate exteriors were created to reflect the value of the trinket boxes contents. The Edwardian era saw the introduction of new styles of trinket box. These included small circular or oblong boxes...