Featured Octagon Shaped Silver Plate Box Help With Writing

Hi,
I came across this box, was black when I found it and slowly it is coming clean, still more polishing to do. Across the front there are letters?, trying to figure out what they mean. I'm not sure which way is up so 2 views shown.
No other marks have been found, so I don't know where this was made.
It is 6 1/4" x 4" x 3 3/4".
Any information appreciated
thanks for looking

 

It's very pretty!

Indian, perhaps?

 

Thanks SBSVC! I thought the same with the letters but the design (flowers) didn't seem like it to me.

 

Indian. That's Devanagari script, used for a number of Indian languages including Sanskrit. The orientation is with the joined up lines at the top. Colonial silver by the look of it, 19th C.

 

...and maybe SILVER, not plated?

 

Could be, very easily, if it's that old. It would be worth testing.

 

Cool box, CX!

and great info Ownedby - thanks!

 

Betel box from India. At least that's what they called them in the 1970s. Then they were brass; yours is older.

Debora

 

Thanks for all the replies folks

Wow, thank-you bear So this could be silver? That would be very nice if it is, I will have to get it tested. What is Colonial Silver?

 

Nut - i had to look it up

 

Betel box is a definite probability. Colonial silver refers to the period when the British ruled India, and often either commissioned or bought local pieces. Hence the slightly Western looking decoration. I'd think this is at the very least low grade silver - 800 maybe - and possibly higher. It's a nice thing.

 

The colonial stuff is getting hot in Britain now too, or was at last report. People here in the States don't know what it is, generally.

 

Thanks again bear Maybe a mark will show up with more cleaning, but I will get it tested to see what it is.

 

Yup, it's good here. Usually not marked, but if you can get it tested unobtrusively, worth while. It's generally recognised by style.

 

I went to the pawn shop to get it tested - they just received a machine that will do testing (no acid), but it won't be ready to go until next week. He thought coin silver from looking at it, but will see what the machine says.

 

Betel nuts were very common in Asia during the 1800s, early 1900s (and still are in some places, today). I agree that they would be a definite possibility.

I've never understood the appeal of betel nuts myself. Although as with all drugs, they did come with some nice paraphernalia. My cousin still owns our great-grandmother's betel-nut box!

 

I think the term Pandan Box....fits properly....
The handle and lock seem constant.

 

Here's something.

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-cast-silver-and-gilt-pandan-box-5061733-details.aspx

But what's a pandan box? And for that matter, what's pandan? It's a plant, isn't it?

 

It's a flavouring. People carried it with them, just as they did nutmeg here .

This is the betel box I found last weekend: Bidri ware.

 

Oh I know what Pandan is and what pandan leaves are. I just couldn't figure out why on earth you'd carry it around with you. Or for that matter, why you'd need to keep it locked.

I mean it's not a rare thing, is it? My relatives use that stuff all day long.