TIbet? China? copper sherd box, different than some

There are lots of sherd boxes but this one seems a little different. It came from a yard sale in VA and measures about 3" X 3" and 2 ½" high. It appears to be copper from the scratches on the base. The inside it lined on the bottom with red velveteen and the underside of the lid has a mirror.

Any idea of age or origin?

I believe I put this on the Ebay Discussion Boards awhile back (10 years or so). I don't believe anyone knew much about it. I assumed it was fairly new but then couldn't find like examples.

 

Mirror under lid.

 

It is Chinese, but not your run of the mill Chinese porcelain shard box.
The copper repoussé is a bit like Himalayan art, but it is Chinese.
I think it is charming.

 

Thank you AJ! I've always liked it but have just tucked it away instead of using it. Glad to know it's Chinese!

Would you have any idea if the style of it gives any clue to it's age? I've always imagined it's sometime in the last 40 years or so.

 

It is a timeless style really, but I think it could be a bit older.
It is very nicely made, lovely detail on the repoussé.

 

I had to look up what a sherd box is the other day when you posted this.

Everything I find says that this craft started in the 1980s. In the 1950s-60s the communists forbid people to own antique pottery/porcelain and it all had to be destroyed if they didn't want to face being thrown in prison. In the 1980s people started digging up or otherwise recovering all the shards they could find and made boxes and jewelry.

Is that the real story?

 

I don't know. As far as I know the Communists confiscated private items of value to sell them on the international market.

 

Just like Russia when the Bolshevik insurgents came in. There are still missing Faberge eggs.

 

Very interesting! If it only could talk and tell us