Featured Judaica or am I just a sappy idiot?

Today I visited a flea market in Krakow. Naturally, working on 2 hours sleep, hungry, tired, I let my excitement get ahead of my brain and purchased these for more than I would have otherwise (the equivalent of $31.7 total). I didn't ask about these, so it's not like the sellers gave me a long history of them. But I thought that the fruit on the box looked like an etrog and the mother of pearl purse looked old (bafflingly, I didn't notice the missing piece until after I bought it, which makes me wonder if I lost it on the way to my pocket. Anyway, now that I've gotten some rest, I'm wondering if I overpaid. If not for the fruit on the lid, I wouldn't have paid more than 5-8 dollars for the box at a thrift. As for the coin purse/wallet/thing, is it just a souvenir from Israel?

The box is quite small, maybe only about 4 inches long. The last time I saw an etrog was in preschool, so I have no idea how big they are.

 

the pewter jar is lovely...so is the MOP...!
An etrog box...... I would expect to have some hebrew writing on it....though not always..



and if memory serves...an etrog....looks like a huge lemon..

 

It does look somewhat like some species of etrog, but the leaves don't.



About 4 inches... maybe

Yes, it is very nice, but the damage.

 

I didn't quite know what an etrog looks like either, so of course had a look. Shapes & sizes seem quite variable, & found this really interesting:

https://etrogglobal.com/grade-info/

Looks a bit like a poppy pod:

 

yes, it kinda does...don't it ??

 

Yeah, I can't believe I missed that damage, especially since I turned it around to look at both sides. The only thing that I could think of is that, since I kmoved it to several different pockets to find a safe place, a piece of the mother of pearl must have fallen off in the process and been crushed underfoot. I asked my Israeli friend to translate the Hebrew for me, and she said that it says Yerushalem, which is the aramaic pronounciation and not the current Hebrew one.

I hope it isn't a poppy seed

Normally I'd agree about the lack of lettering on the box, but this was a similar (albeit silver) one I saw at a museum today:



Also when I googled Silver Etrog box I saw others with similar lined fruit.
(sorry can't attach since I'm on my phone)
https://www.google.com/search?clien...ox+silver+antiqie#imgrc=VZ7eoI1s71foBM:&isa=y

 

Baecker Zinn is the same ...rubbish like Frieling; all post-WW2 and value in the penny range.

 

there goes my money

 

Disappointing, but I guess this is just a lesson learned. I found some other nice stuff to make up for the loss, and from now on, I'll be even more careful.

 

Barn Owl, you have good company with others here who make mistakes... namely me.

 

go to the metalware forum. there's still the pewter marks site from Pat. although I tried to stop him including modern krapp companies like Frieling and others when we assembled it, he did it because he collected none-antique pewter as well.
may be to your advantage today !
sadly his family didn't react to my questions after his untimely passing; seems they thought they may make a business out of the site, but were computer illiterate.

 

I am not sure of the shape of the Etrog pewter jar. Usually, they are made for easy access to the fruit - and I think an Etrog would just get stuck or lost inside. The boxes are used for protecting the Etrog from damage as well.... and this one wouldn't do that sadly. the little pocket book think though is nice!

 

So the purse is a souvenir coin purse from Jerusalem? I hadn't noticed the writing on it. Thanks for posting this thread, @Barn Owl . I learned something new, since am not familiar with Judaica.