Featured Tortoiseshell Spoon Box

Bought today (contents can be found in another post)


Unfortunately damaged, with a loose hinge on this side

Any ideas regarding origin and age?
Late 19th and England like this one
https://www.defranselelie.com/en/webshop/varia/an-antique-tortoiseshell-spoon-box/88619
?

 

Beautiful! I'm always searching for one like yours

 

Always looking for a damaged spoon box?

 

I was just in time buying this. I had just paid for the box with the spoons, and still had it on the stand of the seller while I was talking to him about other stuff. A woman arrived at the stand and imediately picked up the box. She looked disappointed when I said it was mine already. And that disappointment grew, when she saw the contents. And even more when she heard about the price

 

haha nah, but believe you had it as a great deal. And the damage is only visible at the back though. I had a smaller one cracked near the hinges too

 

I only saw the damage when I got home. I didn't notice it when I bought it ... because I was only going to buy the spoons! The box was open and half hidden between other stuff, so no light shining through it. It looked like a simple plastic box, so I didn't even pick it up. When I asked for the price of the spoons, I asked if the box was included (and it was), thinking it would be handy to have it, to keep the spoons in it while checking out the rest of the stands. Only after paying for it, and picking up the box to close it, the light shone through the lid and I saw that it wasn't plastic after all but tortoiseshell A very fortunate bonus to the spoon find ....and the Longwy find, and the wood plane find (vintage Record no. 4) and the records find (including 1 Led Zeppelin and 2 Frank Zappa records). All at the same stand! Didn't buy anything at any of the other stands. I just kept coming back to this one to take another look. I started with the Longwy dish, and only at my 4th return to that stand, I bought the box and spoons, so it's a miracle that nobody spotted that during the day, and very fortunate that (you weren't there and) the woman arrived a few seconds too late to the stand.

 

Mind telling me how much you've paid for the box plus the spoons? Similar ones (box only) with no damage are usually priced at 200 to 300 pounds

 

This one https://www.defranselelie.com/en/webshop/varia/an-antique-tortoiseshell-spoon-box/88619 has a crack and hairline on top, and is for sale for 95 EUR
If a crack and hairline on top brings the price down from 200/300 pounds to 95 EUR, what would a crack on the back and a loose hinge do to the price?
If you know the answer to that, then you will have an idea of what I paid for it.

And I can tell you, .... that idea will be incorrect!

 

the crack is nuthin.......now..the spoons inside ..... WOW !!!!!

 

Nice box, Marote. The style is Biedermeier, which doesn't necessarily mean it is strictly Biedermeier period.

I also find them as Dutch, and datewise between 1860 (Biedermeier) and 1900.

The Dutch continued the Biedermeier style for some silver and decorative objects, so Dutch would make sense. And of course the Netherlands had a steady supply of tortoiseshell.
It could also be one of those generic European things.

Ah, a boomerang buyer.

 

As it was bought in the Netherlands, it could indeed be Dutch (although the seller also had English)
I'm just glad it doesn't say 'Made in China'

I even went back a 5th time to buy more stuff, but he had already left

 

But it had a 'Made in China' price

 

Well, a real made-in-china box could be priced much higher than these boxes...

 

Good point
I meant Made in Alibaba China

 

Are you sure you want to know this?
I don't want to make you cry. And I don't want to be hated by you...

 

Well, the one supposed to cry is perhaps the seller knowing the set with the box could go for 150 pounds or higher I'm cool with it, since I haven't got one and maybe I'll be lucky enough to find an undamaged one with your price tag, who knows

 

I really hope the seller won't read this, as he was a very kind guy...
And
Disclaimer for all outsiders finding this via Google:
If I want to sell the box and/or spoons in the future, the asking price will not reflect the price I paid for it


The price was fairly similar to the 95 EUR for the box with the crack and hairline in the lid.
I paid 95 EUR - 9 for the box and spoons

86 EUR is a nice price you say?
well ...

I didn't mean 95 EUR - 9 EUR = 86 EUR
I meant that the 9 needs to be taken away from that 95.
Yes, ladies and gentelmen and other people, yours truly, who usually only finds reproductions or other mass produced items, only paid 5 EUR for the box + spoons!

Actually,...
I bought it together with 6 records, and the seller gave me a 1 EUR discount on the total price, so just 4.50 EUR?

 

Good on you @Marote ......
we don't hate you..................we laud you !!!

Have you yet to read through our Finds thread........?