Mintons date? cleaning?

The note with this piece is that it was owned by my wife's great grandmother. She was born 1878. I was hoping someone could date this. I looked up the mark and have a general range, but the folks here seem really good at knowing more than what's found online, and narrowing dates down further. I also wondered what this kind of thing is called. It looks hand painted to me. Does it to you? My last question is how do I safely clean this, as it's pretty grungy?

 

Trinket box. Washing up liquid and warm water.

 

I was thinking something used on a vanity. Looks in great condition. Agree on OBB's cleaning recommendation.

 

Yup, I suspect part of a dressing table set.

 

I was more familiar with the Gilman Collamore name. Turns out Davis was his brother.
The Minton mark appears to be 1873-1912. Davis died in 1887.

Davis Collamore would have commissioned this from Minton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Collamore_&_Co.

Edited to take out incorrect info.

 

Does it have any impressed marks? Minton has a date code mark impressed on some items. They also added England after 1891 so looks a bit like it might be the 1891-1912 version of the mark, see what you think if you haven't looked at this site already.

http://www.thepotteries.org/mark/m/minton.html

 

Dresser Jar

 

Hmm forgot that tidbit
So disregard my comment about the earlier dating.
Sorry.

 

I've looked very hard for an impressed mark, but cannot find a hint of one. The two date ranges given above were what I had found, and why I'm curious of the date. One range makes it likely one generation further back, but the '91-'12 would fit the story. She married in 1899, so a likely purchase date would fit right in there.

 

The pattern G8624 was also used on dinnerware. Replacements doesn't have any, but they have a couple of pieces with blue G8607.

 

It's the gold that will be most fragile.

 

Yup, but something like Fairy Liquid won't hurt it. When these were made, cleaning materials were far more abrasive.