Unidentified Marks on Trinket Box

Hi All,

I recently bought a cylindrical trinket box at auction. The bill of sale describes the item as a Chase box, but it wasn't represented as such at the time of sale, and I doubt that it is Chase & Co.

There are 2 marks on the bottom, but after days of searching the internet, I have come up empty handed. The most prominent mark is "(AL)" stamped using a serif font. There is also a small rectangle with a symbol that I can't quite make out.

The box itself is decorated with an embossed motif of leaves and flowers in the centre panel, the top and bottom portions with a triangle pattern. I think it dates to the early 1900s (pre WWI), mostly because it has an art nouveau-y feel to it. My best guess is that it might be a Native American piece, but that is a total shot in the dark.

 

Absolutely not Native American. Middle Eastern would be my first guess - but even that is a total WAG, because what is marked on the piece doesn't resemble any Middle Eastern marks with which I am familiar. I think it would be very odd for them to use non-Arabic letters.

Perhaps the auctioneer meant "chased" - a method of creating the design on the surface.

 

They left off the "d" in chased,the design was chased and not engraved.Hard to tell if the design is Asian or possible Turkish since the "letters" in the rectangle box are not clear.

 

What are the dimensions of this container? And what does the fur belong to?

 

The container is between 3 3/8" tall and 2 7/8" across.

The "fur" belongs to a pillow on my chesterfield.

 

It looks more like a canister? I agree, more Middle Eastern
The mark looks almost like a hieroglyph, what I can make out..
Beginning of a bird on the left?

Chased Bowl (just similar design)

 

Bakersgma and Hollyblue, I suspect you are right that the "d" was left off of "chased" on the invoice.

Thanks for the lead. I guess I will start chasing down Turkish, Middle Eastern & Asian marks.

 

I agree canister is probably a more accurate description than trinket box.

I thought it might be Indian, but then for some reason I thought Indian silver was almost never hallmarked.

I will try and get a larger, clearer, shot of the mark on the left and add it to this thread.

 

You can only call these "hallmarks" if there is an official system of metal assay and/or maker registration in the country of origin.

 

I was thinking you are using your dog as a stand for your items.

 

Hahahaha! I have used my cats to give a sense of scale.

 

My wife thought it might be two figures embracing.

 

It's starting to sound like cigarettes would fit in there nicely.

 

Indian.

 

Thank you everyone for you wonderful help with this.

There seems to be a growing consensus with people that it is Asian in origin, with Indian being in the lead. That said it has also been suggested that it may come from Indonesia, as the motif is similar to Yogya silver from the Jakarta area.

I guess I will continue with my research. If I happen to find a definitive answer I will let everyone know.

Thanks again, your time and knowledge is much appreciated.

 

Having narrowed the search to Asian silver, I think I may be close to an answer.

I found this incense burner from Vietnam that has the exact same flower design.

My pot:


Vietnamese incense burner:


What do you all think?

 

Hello everyone,

We finally figured out the origins of this canister. It is from Brunei.

 

Thanks for getting back to us, PDProps! How were you able to figure it out?

 

To be honest it was just a lot of googling. We had narrowed it down to Islamic Asia, and finally found one auction house in the UK that sold a similar, but much newer canister.

The Brunei national museum website being shut down certainly didn't help.


It turns out it is a fairly common motif in Brunei silver work. The patter is bunga air mulih which translates as "water flower plant".

With all of the Brunei cultural institutions having shut down their web sites, we are contacting the Embassy here in Canada to see if they can provide any more details.