Featured 1880s plain Sterling Silver Vesta Case. S. Mordan & Co.

This is quite possibly, the plainest antique I've ever bought in my life. It is a vesta-case from 1886, made by the famed company of Sampson Mordan & Co. It has plain sides, a plain top and a ridged striker-surface on the underside. It has marks for Sampson Mordan, London, Sterling, etc, etc.

The reason I purchased this is so that I could have a neat little pillbox to hold my peppermints

I selected this out of about half a dozen or more, for a few reasons...

1). It was unengraved and unembellished. Not easy to find with vesta-cases.
2). The sprung-hinged lid was still in great condition. Some can be wonky.
3). It's old, from a famous maker, and apart from a couple of minor dinkles, undamaged.
4). It holds just a small number of mints (half a dozen with a bit of wiggle-room), which is all I really need on a daily basis when I go out.
5). The perfectly flat bottom means that I can stand it up straight!



Carrying peppermints with me when I go out is a longstanding habit of mine, but some people find it irritating when they rattle around inside those metal tins they sell them in. Because of that I've always been on the hunt for a replacement of a suitable size, in silver.

Snuffboxes proved to be too expensive, and the lids often popped open unexpectedly. This made them unsuitable for use. Because of that, I decided to look into vesta-cases. I knew they had sprung lids and so would close securely and not pop open in my pocket or in my bag. The trick was finding one that didn't cost the earth and moon which was in a configuration which I liked.

I didn't want any rings or hooks, since I wasn't going to snap it onto a chain, and I didn't want any obvious striker-surface since it wasn't going to be used for matches. So in the end, I got landed with this

I fear another area of collecting coming on. I am so screwed...

While we're on this subject, has anybody else here ever used an antique specifically designed for a single purpose, and put it to use for something else in the modern era, since it cannot be used for its original purpose any longer? What was it and what do you do with it now?

 

I have used silver cigarette cases for business cards, usually the ones produced after 1950's when king size ciggies became available are the only size that will accommodate.
I once sold an expensive sterling compact to a young woman who took the Girl Scout motto "Be Prepared" seriously...she intended to use it to discretely carry condoms.

 

The date is relatively early for a vesta case and the design is typical of the early types.
So it is a bit special, and to a case collector, more desirable than a later type with a rounded lid and the usual suspension ring. It is harder to find this type if you are looking for one.
I have a reasonably large Victorian silver trophy cup that I use to quaff really good lemonade when sitting in the sun on the lawn.
Given English summer weather it does not get a lot of use. Today it is rather like November.

 

I use a Birks Sterling sugar spoon...of which I have a pair..as my cereal spoon...coffee spoon, soup spoon.....and basically the only spoon I use to eat from.....but I've never used it for sugar ...

 

I use a glass humidor for my refrigerator bread and butter pickles

 

"I fear another area of collecting coming on. I am so screwed..." @Shangas!

 

An old bookstand to hold my kindle when watching youtube. x

 

Great idea and also for a thread!

 

So....
A condompact then?

 

Went out antiquing today. Found a sweet-shop that sells teeny tiny titchy little mints. Bought a big massive bag of them and they fit perfectly into my little silver mint-box now

The excess from the bag of mint pebbles went into my silver candy-jar thingy that some of you may remember from an earlier post!

 

I use silver (plated) meat skewers and silver-and-Ivory or silver-and-mother-of-pearl fruit knives as paper knives and letter openers.

 

Yes I hear that's a very common thing these days, to use old folding fruit-knives as paper-knives/letter-openers. I think that's what most people buy them for.

 

I use a c.1900 pressed glass, possibly English, vase as a holder for my make-up brushes.

 

You'd be amazed how useful one of those really long hatpins for really big hats can be.