Antique French Powder Box Vanity Jar 950 Sterling Guilloche Victorian Edwardian

Antique french powder box vanity jar 950 sterling guilloche victorian edwardian. Straight out of my own personal collection is this lovely antique powder box or vanity jar dating to the late victorian era and into the edwardian era. Made up of heavy clear cut leaded crystal, it is a lovely item that can be repurposed to hold a variety of things. This antique powder box or vanity jar was originally a utilitarian item meant to hold face powder and a fluffy puff and was a feminine accent of the dressing table.

This lovely cut crystal box is a round shape and is completely cut from top to bottom in a ribbed pattern. The circular base is cut flat and fire polished. The lid is solid 950 silver and is engine turned with a guilloche pattern on the top. Guilloche refers to a pattern etched into a metal surface by means of engine-turning with a lathe-like machine called a tours à guilloché. A circle in the center of the lid was meant for a monogram, but it has not been monogrammed.

The powder box stands 2.5" tall x 4.75" diameter. The lid is stamped with the "minerva head" assay mark used in france accompanied with the number one at the forehead. This number indicates this is the finest grade of silver used in france, which was 950, higher silver content than sterling silver which is 925. French silver marks are usually very small and hard to read due to being partially worn from polishing or wear over time.

I tried to get as good as a photo as i could. The french assay mark for solid silver, the head of the roman goddess minerva in profile, has been used since 1838.

The mark is used to denote the standard of a piece of french silver. There are two variants of the mark, one for 800 grade (80%) silver and one for 950 (95%) silver. The higher standard is 950 parts per thousand, or 95% silver, and is referred to as 1st standard. The french refer to it as minerve 1st. Pieces with minerva marks bearing the number one (near the forehead) are of. 950 quality and are often considered "sterling" even with the higher silver content. This diamond shaped lozenge is what french silversmiths used to mark their silver. Normally a combination of initials and a symbol are used. In this case, the diamond shaped lozenge has the letters "sf" with an anchor in between the letters.

This was the mark used by saglier frères when used on silver, not silverplate. The mark was entered in 1897, 12 rue d'enghien, paris. Lift the lustrous silver lid and keep your loose change, jewelry or stash inside. There are no major chips or cracks to the glass, there may be flea bites on the points and the corners. There are no issues to the lid the glass was hard to photograph, i have not attempted to clean the interior of the bottle.

I have some other matching pieces from this set in separate listings: a larger bottle used for cologne or toilet water with silver collar and lid, a silver lidded perfume bottle and a silver backed hair brush. This item is made of crystal and 950 silver.

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