Edwardian Antique Sterling Silver Cigar Case or Cigarette Case, Birmingham 1906

A truly iconic Art Deco double-lidded cigarette or cigar box with the most fantastic shaped handle to the top. The box is entirely engine-turned and stands on four elegant feet. T...

This antique engraved sterling silver cigarette or decorative box was made in Japan in approximately 1900 in the period Japonisme style. The box is composed of an ebonized hardwood c...

An exceptional, fine and impressive antique Victorian English sterling silver combination sovereign or vesta case, an addition to our diverse box and case collection. This exceptional antique Victorian English sterling silver combination vesta or sovereign case has a subtly domed rectangular, rounded form. The anterior and posterior surfaces of this silver case are plain and unembellished. This antique Victorian sterling silver sovereign case is fitted with a hinged hallmarked push fit cover allowing access to the hallmarked sprung sovereign holders...

Rectangular desk cigarette case with rounded corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with fine hand-painted fire-enameled miniature depicting a romantic couple in Art Nouveau...

Shaped rectangular pocket cigarette case in 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamels on guillochè with Art Deco style geometric de...

Rectangular table cigarette box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamels on guillochè and fine miniature hand painted...

Rectangular table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent two-tone striped fired enamel on guillochè and hand-engraved ornament. Late Empire Napoleon III style. ...

Antique silver card case in form of Aide Memoire Purse, Birmingham 1908, William Hair Haseler. Art Nouveau elaborate border surround, monogram possibly H....

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...

6238-7239- Pocket cigarette case with spring button in 925/1000 fire-enamelled sterling silver with beautiful vessel miniature hand-painted by th...