Author Topic: Help Identifying Little Metal Container  (Read 5365 times)

xRaez

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Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« on: October 28, 2013, 03:00:54 am »
Hey guys

I actually just posted about this little container on another forum, only to find that apparently people there really enjoy looking at your questions.. Frustratingly none of them seem to feel the urge to offer any kind of response. So here we go again  ;D fingers crossed.

So! I'm new to this forum, I hope to learn a lot from this place and the people here. At least it looks like people here actually talk to each other, which is always a plus  :)

That said, perhaps the learning can start right now! I've been given a small trinket that my mother had on her shelves for years (I remember seeing it there as a young child). I only ever really asked her about it once, and she mumbled something about her grandmother giving it to her.

Neither of us are entirely sure what it is or how old it is. I doubt it's actually worth anything (though wouldn't that always be nice? haha), but I would like to have some idea what it was used/designed for and maybe an approximate age.

It appears to be handmade, based off of the imperfections (not completely symmetrical etc) out of some sort of metal which I believe has been coated in another metal. The inlays appear to be some sort of mother-of-pearl or some other shiny part of a sea shell (quite pretty in the light). The container is pretty small, about an inch from one side to the other, though I haven't measured it.
I can't see any markings on it to indicate who might have made it or what it's made of.

It's a pretty little thing, whatever it is. Definitely looks nice on the shelf. But if anyone can answer even one of my questions, I'd be hugely appreciative.

Ta guys

Renae

Pictures:





« Last Edit: October 28, 2013, 03:45:54 am by xRaez »

bigwull

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2013, 04:51:15 am »
Hi and Welcome...
your little box won,t suffer the same fate here as it did on the other forum....we are the best....not, me i hasten to add...I,m more like the Joker in the pack....but..i do sometimes ..help out
Now to your little "pill box"...for i,m sure that is what it is,....the inlay looks like abalone shell...its a nice little box...are there any marks...i.e. numbers...?..value....could be £20+
I make no excuses,and no apologies....but i like a good Malt,

xRaez

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2013, 05:55:45 am »
 ;D a response! You've made my day (or night.. rather). lol thank you for being so kind as to share some of your awesome with me.

I've had a look all over the little box, and haven't come across any markings, which is frustrating.. Someone must have made it, who doesn't at least sign their work! Obviously laziness is the culprit here  ::)

Any chance you want to take a guess at how old it may be?

Renae

mart

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2013, 09:29:22 am »
It does look like a pill box which were common throughout Victorian times and early 1900`s !! Can we see the bottom please ??  Yes Wullie I am on bottoms again !!  :D
Oh and welcome to the forum,, I forgot to say that !!  You will likely get a lot of opinions here !!

Ipcress

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2013, 03:02:03 pm »
First impressions are that it isn't particularly old. Did your mother go abroad or visit markets etc ?

Looks like something people pick up in Egypt on holiday, not so much a Victorian artefact.

bigwull

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2013, 03:22:19 pm »
Had you read between the lines of Marts post...you will have seen that she did,nt say "this" was Victorian...she was using Victorian as a metaphor....as for it being ...something that people pick up in Egypt....why Egypt....why not Timbuktoo...Istanbu l, ....Blackpool,....it does,nt matter where its from....what matters is...what it is....and how much its worth...  ;)
I make no excuses,and no apologies....but i like a good Malt,

mart

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2013, 03:58:45 pm »
LOL !!  Its a cute little pill box in good condition for its age !! However many years that happens to be !!  And can`t really tell that !!

xRaez

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2013, 10:51:08 pm »
Hey everyone

Just to answer a couple questions: No, my mother definitely got this little box from her grandmother. Of course that doesn't necessarily indicate age, because there's no telling how recently or how long ago her grandmother picked it up. We can't even ask her, as she died several years back.

I remember seeing it on my mother's shelf when I was very young, before we moved from the old house (meaning I was about 3-4). I used to play with my mother's little trinkets on the shelf. I'm almost 23 now, so this little box is at least 20 years old haha. Sadly there are no markings anywhere on it to indicate the date it was made, what it's made of, where it was made or who made it.

I can upload a picture of the "bottom" if you'd like, but there's nothing written there. If anyone else has any ideas about this little box, feel free to chime in  :)

Renae
« Last Edit: October 29, 2013, 12:21:15 am by xRaez »

KC

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2013, 01:07:20 am »
Beautifully made box.  Could be pill box...but could also be a trinket box, snuff box...and if it was old enough (antique) they used to have personal size opium boxes.

But feel that yours isn't as old for the later...

Welcome to the forum!!

Gorgeous piece!!!
I'm from the South - but please don't mistake my Southern Manners/Accent/Charm as a weakness!

bigwull

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2013, 02:18:30 am »
Beautifully made box.  Could be pill box...but could also be a trinket box, snuff box...and if it was old enough (antique) they used to have personal size opium boxes.

But feel that yours isn't as old for the later...

Welcome to the forum!!

Gorgeous piece!!!

Are you sure one of them Olives did,nt hit you on the noggin ;D.....A trinket box!!....its only 1in in dia,....and as for a snuff box...!!..you are pushing the boat out now....stick with your first..thought...pi ll box....and you won,t be wrong....a.trinket box.... ;D...sometimes i wonder......
I make no excuses,and no apologies....but i like a good Malt,

KC

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2013, 02:29:15 pm »
They did make trinket boxes and snuff boxes that small!  Hit on the head by olive hail or not!  :)

I'm from the South - but please don't mistake my Southern Manners/Accent/Charm as a weakness!

mart

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2013, 06:07:16 pm »
Ladies frequently took snuff back then !! Could have been used for either one !! Remember that a ladies purse was not like the ones we carry today,,they were very small so anything that they carried or kept in them was scaled to size !!

KC

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2013, 06:39:21 pm »
Thanks for the support Mart!! :)
I'm from the South - but please don't mistake my Southern Manners/Accent/Charm as a weakness!

mart

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2013, 06:54:57 pm »
I didn`t think about that or I would have added that tidbit to my post !!

bigwull

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Re: Help Identifying Little Metal Container
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2013, 03:17:12 am »
Thanks for the support Mart!! :)

Yeah!!
I make no excuses,and no apologies....but i like a good Malt,