William and Mary Kingwood Strong Box or Coffre Fort Converted to a Teacaddy

Paneled case with top lifting handle and side handles. Signed on top with working lock and key.

With handle and double hinged lids over a conforming case.

With slightly domed hinged lid elaborately inlaid with central animal figure under a crown, conforming inlaid sides with handles and ending on scroll feet.

Hinged lid opening to a fitted desk, conforming case, base with fold up leaf to support the open desk, square tapered legs.

Rectangular top over a frieze and raised on turned legs.

Octagonal top and barley twist support ending on an X-form platform base.

A William and Mary Kingwood / Princes Oyster Strongbox or Coffre Fort of Diminutive Proportions, Circa 1680-1700, England. Adorned with highly decorative gilt brass strapwork and decorated entirely in knife cut oysters of kingwood, this box is fit for the most discerning of collectors. The large gilt brass shield-shaped clasp opens on a push-spring release to reveal a box interior lined in rosewood with one drawer and securing bolts. Once the lid is opened you can reach inside to slide the original gilt brass bolt lock to open the fall. Once the fall is open you will find a drawer lined in oak and simulated kingwood. The box appears decorative, but it was also very difficult to break open or steal. It has a strong lock to the centre and two bolts concealed in the sides, so that it could be screwed down into floorboards if necessary or that of a horse-drawn carriage. Strong boxes veneered in oysters of Princewood such as this were luxury objects. The cabinet-makers who would have constructed and veneered the carcase apparently sold them, often using tropical hardwood veneers, and mounted it with sets of mounts, handles and locks bought in from brass founders. The elaborate veneering and conspicuous gilded brass mounts show that the appearance of these objects was important. Thomas Pistor, of Ludgate Hill, London worked with the renowned cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen...

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (attributed) a Glasgow School green stained cypress wood and glazed bookcase, with bullion glazed doors with arched upper details and pierced brass hinges a...

Henry William Batley, attributed (probably) for Collinson and Lock, an unusual Aesthetic Movement rosewood 'Courting Sofa' with D shaped armchairs to...

Collinson and lock, possibly designed by E. W. Godwin. A fine Anglo-Japanese mahogany settee, with subtle Japonesque detailing to the back uprigh...

18th C Catalan wall-hanging money box having original powdery blue paint with original lock plate.

Wonderful oak chest from the 17th century. Superb patina, created over the centuries. The box on the right of the interior has a double bottom what were they hiding here? The box ...

19th Century brass bound hardwood chest decorated with shaped pierced mounts, with hinged molded rectangular top, the front with a pierced lock-plate, nail head decoration and the si...

A French painted two door display and storage cabinet C 1900. Doors open to storage with two adjustable shelves. Beautiful original pain...

17th century antique paneled oak coffer with three panels to the front, two panels to each side, raised on stile feet, unusual fitted inside, original steel lock plate and wire hinge...

PRESENTING A STUNNING 19C Irish Coromandel Wood Campaign Decanter Box. STUNNING mid-Victorian Decanter box from circa 1860-1880. Made in Dub...

A William and Mary Kingwood / Princes Oyster Strongbox or Coffre Fort of Diminutive Proportions, Circa 1680-1700, England. Adorned with highly decorative gilt brass strapwork and decorated entirely in knife cut oysters of kingwood, this box is fit for the most discerning of collectors. The large gilt brass shield-shaped clasp opens on a push-spring release to reveal a box interior lined in rosewood with one drawer and securing bolts. Once the lid is opened you can reach inside to slide the original gilt brass bolt lock to open the fall. Once the fall is open you will find a drawer lined in oak and simulated kingwood. The box appears decorative, but it was also very difficult to break open or steal. It has a strong lock to the centre and two bolts concealed in the sides, so that it could be screwed down into floorboards if necessary or that of a horse-drawn carriage. Strong boxes veneered in oysters of Princewood such as this were luxury objects. The cabinet-makers who would have constructed and veneered the carcase apparently sold them, often using tropical hardwood veneers, and mounted it with sets of mounts, handles and locks bought in from brass founders. The elaborate veneering and conspicuous gilded brass mounts show that the appearance of these objects was important. Thomas Pistor, of Ludgate Hill, London worked with the renowned cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen...

A strongbox was a type of travelling chest and these types of boxes were more common in England than anywhere else where they were fabricated between 1660 and 1720. The earliest proo...

The unique 17th-century William and Mary rosewood coffre forte, circa 1690, raised on George I walnut stand, circa 1720. The rosewood veneered exter...

An unusual early 18th century coffre fort veneered in burr oak and kingwood, superb colour and patination These lovely boxes where made as travelling ...

A rare shagreen covered and patridgewood (Andira inermis) veneered 'coffre fort', strongbox, or Captain’s chest with elaborate gilt brass mounts France or England, late 17th/early 18th century The box has long screws in the side panels to be screwed on a table, for stability on a rocking ship, or against thieves, however, his screw-key is missing (but can be made on request). Measures: H. 16 x W. 27 x D. 17.5 cm The use of shagreen, or sting-ray leather, dates back to the 2nd century CE China, and later Japan, where it was used in weapons for grip. The earliest known use for decorative purposes was in the form of furniture during the 16th century. Portuguese traders, being part of the greatest naval force in the world, imported Japanese Namban lacquer coffers adorned with shagreen, gold and mother-of-pearl. This, however, was short-lived as the Dutch began to rule the seas and monopolized trade with Japan, and thus the trade in shagreen. Throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries, English and Dutch craftsmen ordered novelty material to cover decorative items such as boxes, knife skins and shaving kits...

An exceptional French chest with its original green patina from the early 20th century.