Antique Austrian Sterling Silver and Guilloche Enamel Pill Box, circa 1900

A superb late Victorian playing card box made from English sterling silver fully hallmarked for Birmingham 1899; the makers mark is also present for the well renowned English silversmith, Levi, and Salaman. The box retains the two heavy beveled glass panels to the top with one card below depicting Elizabeth...

A most unusual late Victorian fine string or twine box made from glass with a star cut base, the base mounted with a sterling silver foot and fitted with a solid silver lid topped wi...

A stunning tall vanity / dressing table jar, probably used for either hatpins or a toothbrush, hence the little cork lining to the interior of the base. The glass is channel cut...

A wonderfully handsome and unusual jewelry box in the form of a bow fronted drawers on legs or a dressing table with two solid silver knobs to the fron...

Beautifully made hinged silver compact featuring a floral design on the top section with a flower basket in the middle of a floral wreath and star. There are more flowers on the outer edge. Inside is a beveled glass mirror with a twist rope border, The sides have a scruff leaf design and the back is an attractive machine turned pattern of concentric circles. There is a Austrian bird...

Rectangular box with inward corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with beautiful miniature fire enameled and hand painted by the painter Beatrice Mellana depicting the painting "The Turkish slave" by Francesco Mazzola known as "il Parmigianino" (National Gallery of Parma). Dimensions cm. 8.5 x 11.5 x 3. Weight gr. 345. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1965 and manufactured in Florence in numerous specimens with various different subjects, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous high-fire enameled 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...

An exceptional, fine and impressive antique Victorian sterling silver and enamel flag vesta case; an addition to our maritime silverware collection. This antique Victorian sterling silver vesta case has a plain rectangular rounded form. The anterior surface is embellished with a central enamel design depicting British Navy Code of Signal flags: 'Blue Ball' - a white flag with a blue center, a red flag with a yellow St George's Cross and a blue field with a central horizontal white stripe. These flags represent the individual letters 'S', 'R' and 'J'; their combined definition is untraced. The posterior surface of this antique vesta case is plain and unembellished. This fine silver flag...

Rectangular table box with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-tone translucent fired enamels with guillochè stripes and hand-engraved motifs. George V E...