1700 ca. Chess and Backgammon Box, Augsburg. Decorated in violet wood veneer, ebony and ivory. Ivory checkers and chess pieces, hinges and push button lock in gilded brass, two horn goblets, two ivory dice, thirty-none checkers’ pawns stamped both sides with effigies of cities, Munich, Vienna, Nuremberg, Prague, Danzig, of kings and queens, Prussia, England, Scotland, Poland, and various scenes. Via AnticStore.com
1830 ca. Collection of Four Tiny Purses, or Reticules with drawstrings to close. via Ruby Lane Antiques. As would have been carried by ladies in Jane Austen and Bridgerton years.
Definition Of A Reticule; Bag or purse, often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket, so women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled closed at the top with a drawstring. These Reticules, or bags, were the forerunners of our modern day purses.
19th Century Tantalus, or Drink Holder, With Hand-Painted Glasses and Bottles, as would have been used in the homes of Jane Austen and the Bridgertons. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Tantalus: A small wooden cabinet containing drink decanters. The box has a lock and key to keep unauthorised people from drinking the contents e.g. servants and younger sons, yet still allowing the decanters of drinks to be on show. The word, Tantalus, is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus. Patented in the UK in 1881 by George Betjemann, a cabinet maker from the Netherlands, whose workshop was on Pentonville Road, London from the 1830s.This type of small drinks cabinet would have been used in most households during the Bridgerton family’s and Jane Austen’s times, unless the householders were teetotalers. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
18th Century Late. Inkstand, Sheffield, England. Square, resting on four ball feet, the top pierced with four circular holes into which fit two inkwells, a pounce box and a box for wafers. Silver inkstands appeared in Britain in 17th century and included pot, or well, for ink, plus another pot with pierced cover held ‘pounce’ or sand, which writers scattered over paper to fix ink. Wafers to seal finished letter and tray to hold pens or quills. collections.vam.ac.uk
In Jane Austen’s times craftsmen created boxes and containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels. Boxes, Cases, Etui, Necessaire and everything else that was used to carry essential items for travel, sewing, medicine, writing, and toiletries. Containers were engraved to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
19th Century Snuff Boxes. Not only were boxes made to serve a purpose, but decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th-19th Centuries when everything decorative and extravagant was in vogue and taking a pinch of snuff was fashionable. Snuff is made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves and is sniffed from a pinch of snuff placed on the back of the hand.Flavorings were added to the tobacco to give a fast hit of nicotine and a lasting scent. Snuff began in the Americas and was used in Europe by the 17th Century.
Snuff became popular from the mid 1600s to the mid 1800s and was more popular than smoking. Inhaling snuff, or snuffing, was first seen by a European missionary in 1493 in Christopher Columbus’s new world within Haiti’s indigenous Taino. Until then, tobacco had been unknown to Europeans, but its use spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1500s. By the second half of the 17th century, ornate boxes started being produced to keep the precious powder dry and an entire industry making accessories blossomed around the fashion of taking snuff. Noblemen, and some women, carried extravagantly decorated snuff boxes with them at all times and would offer a pinch of their own particular blend to friends and family. Therefore, these boxes were always on display and so it became a competition to see who could have the most bejeweled or expensive box possible. By the mid 1800s, snuff taking was no longer popular so these exquisite and expensive snuff boxes became decorative, rather than functional.
19th Century Mid-Late Five Desk Seals. L-R Carnelian seal with silver mounts set with colored stones; malachite urn seal: gilt-bronze seal with winged cherub heads: Silver-gilt seal eagle, Silver-gilt seal as eagle’s leg below a blue glass ball. via Sotheby’s Auctions. sothebys.com
In the Bridgerton family, or Jane Austen’s household, and during the Regency Era, sealing wax was not only impressed onto the back of a letter with a seal to protect against tampering, but also to identify the sender of the letter. People, especially aristocrats, kept personal and family seals to be used for many different purposes e.g. A letter to a government official would be sealed with an aristocrat’s crest or title. Personal seals for identification have been since early civilizations. The rubber stamps and embossers we use today serve the same purpose, identifying the sender.
Definition: Wax Seals: Pressed onto a letter or envelope to show that a document is unopened or to verify the sender’s identity. A signet ring or was seal is pressed into a dollop of hot wax to seal a letter or envelope closed.
1800 ca. Writing Box, British, as would have been used by people in Jane Austen’s times, or, the Regency Era. Small brass bound solid mahogany writing box of dovetail construction. Green baize sloping writing surface with compartments for storing papers beneath. Small size may be designed for private intimate correspondence. Drop down carrying handles on two sides are early form of handle. Side drawer pulls out after retaining brass pin is taken out. via hygra.com
1562-1575 ca. Wine Cooler With a Pageant Battle with Elephants, Italian.
Maiolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, from the workshop of the Fontana family. 1553-1580.
Coolers were set near the table on a credenza or sideboard, visible to diners and within easy reach of servants. They are designed to be viewed from any side, but especially from above when empty. When not in use, coolers remained in place to convey the owner’s refined taste and, due to the relatively inexpensive medium, personal modesty. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
Suzi Love – Romance and history author.
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19th Century Late Mechanical Tantalus, French. Ormolu, Bronze, Crystal, and Gilt with a lock and key to open. Earlier versions of this type of small drinks cabinet would have been used in most households during Jane Austen’s times, unless the householders were teetotalers. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Tantalus: A small wooden cabinet containing drink decanters. The box has a lock and key to keep unauthorised people from drinking the contents e.g. servants and younger sons, yet still allowing the decanters of drinks to be on show. The word, Tantalus, is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus. Patented in the UK in 1881 by George Betjemann, a cabinet maker from the Netherlands, whose workshop was on Pentonville Road, London from the 1830s.
