Dutch Miniature Cutlery Box, ca. 1800
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GUEST:
What I have is an antique, uh, knife box, which has sets of knives, forks, and spoons that are all miniature silver, sterling silver. My mother was an antique collector, in particular of miniature silver, and I believe this came from England.
APPRAISER:
I see. The case is made of shark skin...
GUEST:
Okay, good.
APPRAISER:
...which is also known as shagreen. We have some wonderful silver mounts on the front here. We also have silver mounts on the side, which are hallmarked. And additionally, you've got the silver mounts on the back, as well. The hinges, which also have hallmarks.
GUEST:
The hinges, okay.
APPRAISER:
You had initially thought that it was English.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Okay. It is actually Dutch, we believe.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
There are many hallmarks on it, and unfortunately, a lot of them are partially rubbed out. The hallmarks on the escutcheon plate, with the two stars below a crown, is potentially a Dutch city mark. And with a little bit of research, we should be able to identify it. It's interesting to see so many hallmarks, and those marks can be deceptive. It's that series of four marks which makes you think that it's English, but in fact, it was Dutch. And in some cases, they actually did it intentionally to fool you into thinking that the silver was English, because English silver was regarded very highly at the time. So what we have here is, we have a wonderful, uh, miniature cutlery box. You can see it's fitted on the interior with knives, forks, spoons. Also, miniature sauce ladles. And we have three out as a little sampling here.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
This was probably part of a very fine miniature doll's house service, and so you would have additional pieces with it. But what's very, very nice about it is that it is intact. All of the slots are filled with cutlery, with each individual serving piece, and it's very difficult to find a set which has everything intact.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The case has some condition issues. We can see a little bit of separation and some splitting, and that's consistent with age. I would put a presale estimate on it of about $2,500 to $3,500.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So... It's a very nice little set. What's, what gives it the value is that it's complete and its condition.
Appraisal Details
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