Featured for visit cards ? matches ?

the marks are so small that it's nigh to impossible to see any details.
measure (closed) 45 by 55 millimeters.




French ? Russian ?

 

I'd say not matches....& too small for cards.

 

Match book holder, try one in it. So no older than matchbooks.

 

seems matchbooks in one form or another exist since the 1890s

 

i was looking at match safes...thinking this was older.
& while a pack of matches might fit......wouldn't the striking area be covered ??

 

Stamps. Pretty. Want it.

Bet it's older Chinese, fid.

 

Beautiful! Could it have been a tiny mirror case?

 

Stamp cases were typically stamp sized. Over the years I have had many match book holders, in materials from copper nickel to silver and I have seen them in gold. Either none of them were match book holders, despite some coming with old matchbooks still in them, or this item is a matchbook holder.

Not to say you could not use it for whatever fits

 

That is gorgeous, Fid --

 

still wondering who had two square marks side by side. it was sold as Austrian secession, but I've never seen such small marks on Austrian stuff.

 

I'm thinking Russian silver gilt and cloisonne enamel....but Austria is next door.

 

I still think older Chinese, but let me search out some images.

 

This looks a bit like the cousin of your item:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Art-Nouveau...gree-w-Enamel-Victorian-ca-1870-/271798933371

 

Those marks on the case are inconclusive......
but ...funny how ebay can have items posted at just the right time.

 

What on earth makes the seller state so firmly that it's English? Art Nouveau it ain't, either, in style. And the elastic is early 20th C at most, probably 20s or 30s.

Book matches got popular in what, the early 20th?

 

What on earth makes the seller state so firmly that it's English

Maybe that's where the seller bought it? We do have junk from all over the place lying around. The seller refers to hand rolled cigarettes, the only kind that would fit today, so they are clearly too young to remember when cigarettes were not all 'King Sized' and you could buy a packet of five, though I doubt if a purchaser of 5 Weights would use such a case.

The answer is youthful ignorance.

 

I like that theory.

Ciggies were small even after WW2, weren't they. Or maybe for cheroots?

 

San Toy were small cheap cheroots that would probably fit. 'Oversize' cigarettes came in in the 1960s as far as I remember.

 

Seller just lookin to sell.....they'll say pretty much anything !!
But the case does look similar to the smaller item.

 

I'm with AF here, looks like a matchbook holder to me too. To my eye, the enamel-work doesn't look quite right for Chinese - looks more European to me, but my poor old eyes can't make anything out of those tiny marks or the ones on the cigarette case, and they don't look particularly Portuguese, but have seen similar enamel bits on Portuguese filigree. Personally, would guess maybe 1920s to '60s dating, but should mention that similar cigarette cases with elastic bands could date even a bit earlier than matchbooks...

~Cheryl

A couple of marked Portuguese brooches with similar enamel:

http://www.jewelry-hallmarks.com/st...-portugal-sterling-filigree-enamel-brooch-pin

https://www.etsy.com/listing/212034768/vintage-topazio-gold-tone-filigree?ref=market

This piece is described as unmarked "Italian", but the form and decoration looks more Portuguese to me:
http://www.fvstore.com/extend/view....mel-Dish-20th-century-p1194431.jpg.middle.jpg

Another cigarette case, described only as, "Foreign Work, Early 20th Century":
https://us.expertissim.com/accessor...ettes-case-with-some-enameling-o12150186.html