Featured Silver? Silver Plated? What Is This Egg Shaped Box & How Old Is It?

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering if anyone of you can help me figure out what I have here. It looks like it could be silver or silver plated. It is a small hinged, footed, egg shaped box. It has engraved designs on it. It has absolutely no markings anywhere. I've looked it over with a fine tooth comb and it has not one mark on it.

This little box is heavy. I weighed it and it weighs 180 grams. I had a silver testing kit that I got on Amazon, but it is rubbish. The testing stone they sent is a piece of black glass that is the size of a post-it and it came all cracked up to boot. It was hard to test because of this issue and there was only a teeny tiny spot that I could use that was not cracked. The liquid looked reddish when I squeezed out a drop on the scratch I made, but I do not have any trust in this tester kit.

I had a really heavy duty magnet and it was not attracted to any spot on the box at all. The feet do not look or feel like it is made from the same material as the box. They are thick silver colored metal and could be spelter possibly. I used a little silver polish to take the tarnish off and the egg shined up like a new penny. I just did a light cleaning because I didn't want to possibly ruin it by accident.

At first I thought it was something someone would put a boiled egg in, but the box is bigger than a standard chicken's egg. I also thought maybe it was some sort of a trinket box. Then I saw some silver or silver plated egg shaped boxes that people mentioned were Judaica Etrog boxes. Could this be one of those? This box is just under 5 inches tall. Anybody know what it is, how old it is and if it could be silver or plated? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

silver marks can be elusive and small.....but I'll guess plated....
& Judaica Etrog box........is very likely

 

Hi komokwa
Wow! That was a very fast reply and I really appreciate it. Would you happen to know how old it is by any chance? Thanks so much

 

Is one of the feet castings poorly done? It doesn’t look like silver to me, more like a pot metal but I’m only guessing.

 

Plated, but maybe with something like chrome and not silver (despite your cleaning success with "silver polish.") The interior is a bit of a give away.

I would have though "trinket box." What makes something an "etrog box" @komokwa ?

 

Not Komo here, but it was used during the Feast of the Tabernacles (Sukkoth) for holding etrog which is a lemon like fruit. Correct me if I'm wrong, Komo.

 

with no markings, I would have to surmise that it's not old at all.....
but 1990's or 2015..... it could be either....

 

No, you're right !

& to Bakers question... the egg, or lemon shape with the high dome is made primarily to hold such an item.
A trinket box, having half of it unable to hold anything....I don't see that as a trinket box..
!
Many etrog boxes are indeed of a more square variety.....but also normally , they have Jewish markings on them, or are very ornate.
When they don't...you kinda just have to know what they are.....sometimes by the interior, which will have a resting place for the fruit...

But for me...without having seen a vast number of them.....I'd think they could be jewelry boxes... or even tea boxes....depending on their size...





But the boxes that are shaped to hold the fruit
kinda just look like they were made for that purpose...

 

& they don't even have to be silver......!!!

 

& they can be wicked cute.......

 

I love the red lace gloves as a contrast to the silver color, @SYNCHRONCITY .

 

I was trying to think of another name for the metal, and I think you are right about it being pot metal. The casting on one of the feet is poorly done, but it doesn't look that bad in person. The lighting was just bad in my pictures. In person the pattern is a lot less butchered, lol. Thanks for your reply.

 

Thanks for your input. The interior looks like it is machine turned brass or gold colored metal.

 

Awesome info. I appreciate your comments so much. Thanks

 

Thanks for your guess. I collect antique teddy bears and antique German and French bisque dolls, so this is definitely not my usual collecting area and I am clueless about this collecting genre. It is so nice that so many people commented and are helping me.

 

Wow! Those are beautiful boxes! Are they in your collection by any chance? You are so nice to have gone through all this trouble to reply and attach all these lovely photos. I greatly appreciate you!

 

Lol! Thanks. I wear them because I have really awful looking hands and want to make them look fancy, lol

 

No , not mine.
On this forum it is respected when one backs up what it is they have to say, & photo's always help in that matter !!!

You're most welcome !!

 

Thanks again. I am new to posting here and signed up on here years ago and forgot about this site. So glad I found it again. I really think I found a wonderful place to talk about antiques. Every single one of you have been most kind to me. I appreciate you all very much. (((Hugs)))

 

signed up on here years ago and forgot about this site.

you may not want to brag about that......... heehehe!!!!!!!