Featured Unknown Hallmarked Silver Box?

Just picked up this lovely pill box at my local auction a few days ago. Measures about 3 inches wide. I don't recognize the hallmarks. THANKS for any info!

 

it's a little gem!!!

 

Hanau marks? She looks like Maria Theresa of Austria kinda- sorta. (poor thing)

 

Looks kinda sorta like King George II.
Edit: No, I take it back, but do think figure is male. Where have we seen that weak chin before?

 

good find !!!
better , price !!!

 

Louis XVI:



Louis XV




There are many images of Louis XIV because he had a long reign & had medals struck along the way. He has a stronger profile.

Am puzzling over the face at the figure's breast which is something like the head of Medusa on the aegis of Athena, except wrong hair for the gorgon. Something on one of the Sun King's medals caught my attention. Could it be this?

 

Louis XIV

 

Could be a snuff box. How securely does it close?

 

Closes tighter than a gnat's ass sitting on a lemon wedge

 

You would expect that in a snuff box. It's "up to snuff".

 

......and coffee just shot out of my nose! GOOD MORNING!

 

Both vitry's box and the box Davey posted are Hanau.
The one Davey posted bears the marks of the Gebrüder (Brothers) Dingeldein.
Vitry's box could be by Wolf & Knell, but I'm not entirely sure. But the general look of the marks is that of classic Hanau pseudo marks.

The Hanau makers used pseudo marks, but that doesn't mean their work isn't excellent. They made some beautiful silver.
The tradition was started by Calvinist Protestant refugees from France and the Low Countries, who brought their French and Dutch skills with them to Hanau.

 

I know that with gold boxes, there were a lot of French style boxes produced (particularly in Switzerland) that carried spurious French marks, some more obvious than others, but the quality of the work was so high that these marks are not referred to as fake, but rather as "prestige marks".

 

There was a period here in the Netherlands when fake marks were often used by good silver and goldsmiths. Those marks were often Frisian, because Frisian precious metal had a certain prestige. A lot of Friesland marked silver was made in Amsterdam, and is of excellent quality.

Hanau is also known for excellent work, so a Hanau pseudo mark is actually a sign of quality.

 

thanks for all the wonderful comments

 

thanks for finding such a lovely box !!!!!