H.C. Freeman 1929 Austrian Enamel Case Box With River Landscape In .925 Sterling

A guilloche box made in Germany Beautiful box created in Germany during the art deco period, circa 1925. This exceptional cigarette-snuff box was carefu...

Cards case designed by Ghiso Paris. Gorgeous piece, created in the art deco style in Paris France by the luxury makers and jewelry house of Ghiso, back in the 1920. It was carved wi...

A guilloche enameled pill box designed by David Andersen. Extremely rare early 20th century enamel pill-box, created in Norway during the late Edwardian and art nouveau period at the workshop of David Andersen, circa 1910. This beautiful box was carefully crafted with impeccable details in solid .925/.999 standard silver with gilded interiors finish. Made of rectangular form with curved edges and fitted with a five barrels hinged lid, that can be raised by a simple thumbpiece. Engine turned guilloche decoration topped with applications of translucent silvered-white and light purple enamels and finally embellished with tiny flowers motifs decorations in high relief. Weight: 59.40 Grams, (38.08 Dwt). Measurements: 65 mm by 38 mm and a height of 13 mm (2.56 x 1.50 x 0.51 Inches). Hallmarks: Stamped with French and Norwegian marks, the maker's mark associated to David Andersen inside a cartouche, the mark for the assay of the silver S .925 and stamped twice with the French import mark of the swan, for importation. Very interesting exports and imports marks. Note: The hallmark of a swan facing to the left inside an oval (Osprey-124), was introduced in 1893 for small silver items imported into France. The silver product need to have at least a standard assay of .800/999 or over. The swan mark indicates that the item was produced in a non-treaty country and served as an import identification. The swan mark used until 1970. David Andersen David Andersen was born in 1843 in Østre Toten, Innlandet to Anders Svendsen and Anne Margrethe Gulbrandsdatter, and was the father of goldsmith Arthur David-Andersen. He was one of the most important Norwegian goldsmiths. From 1859 he was in apprenticeship with the jeweler Jacob Tostrup in Christiania (now called Oslo). He spent several periods abroad, in Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and London. During his stay in London he also imported Norwegian filigree works to the United Kingdom. He established his own goldsmith workshop in Christiania 1876, which eventually became a leading company in the goldsmith industry in Norway. A significant part of his filigree works was exported to Great Britain. As of 1899 his company employed 92 men...

Art deco enamel vinaigrette box. Beautiful vinaigrette case, created in London England back in the 1930. This stunning piece has been crafted in a a r...

Antique early 20th Century sterling silver box with enamelled cover, featuring a landscape scenery. The complete box showcases a tradit...

Rectangular table cigarette case with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on a fine hand-engrave...

Art deco case designed by Ripley & Gowan Company. Beautiful early 20th century enamel box, created by the Ripley & Gowan Company circa 1920. This beautiful art deco box was carefull...

Rectangular table cigarette case with rounded corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with beautiful miniature fire enamelled and hand painted by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing a "still life" by the Flemish painter Willem Claes Heda. Dimensions cm. 5.7 x 9 x 1.7. Weight gr. 174. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1969 and manufactured in Florence in numerous specimens with various subjects and different colors, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni Company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous enamelled firings at about 800° C. Miniature is a very ancient technique which consists of painting works in small proportions. It was born for the decoration of the first letter of the paragraph of the books. Over the years, however, this technique is refined and enriched, then moving on to precious personal items. Hand-painted miniatures can be done with multiple different techniques. The most important that we use on our articles are of three kinds: 1) Fire enamel. 2) Water tempera on an ivory plate. 3) Painted on mother-of-pearl. Fire enameled miniatures: On a first layer of enamel generally white or very clear or even transparent suitably liquefied at a temperature of about 750 ° C, the chosen subject is painted using miniature colors which are as many colored crystals, ground and reduced to a very fine, almost impalpable powder washed and purified in distilled water with the addition of small quantities of deoxidizing acids which, diluted with essential oils (usually essential oil of solder), can be mixed to form a palette of colors. With very fine sable hair brushes you draw the subject starting from the perimeter and then gradually adding various layers of color. It is necessary to carry out various firings very often so that the colors harden and are not absorbed by the underlying glaze as, during the subsequent firings at 750 ° C, during liquefaction, it would spread irremediably. Hence the need to form the painting a little at a time, cooking it numerous times. Therefore it is necessary to proceed with numerous retouching, often overlapping different colors that only the painter's experience knows. A beautiful miniature needs from 20 to over 50 firings and is finished when the painter deems he does not have to further intervene. Some colors must have darker tones than others because then, by superimposing the transparent enamel placed at the end of the miniature, they fade. This transparent layer, called “fondant” in jargon, must be smoothed and polished like all other translucent enamel colors. The miniatures with water tempera colors are painted on real ivory...