Featured Traveling Apothecary Box c 1820

This traveling apothecary box dates from the 1820's, made of Cuban mahogany with a lovely brass campaign handle, only 2 period replacement bottles and 2 small ones missing Unfortunately no original contents to the larger bottles but the 3 small bottles still have medicine in them, Scales, weights, pestle and mortar, and tools are still in situ. Also a surgeons travelling kit with T shell scalpels.
Sorry for the bad pics
size 30cm x 24cm x 13cm

 

800 raver, would you mind telling us what you are able to read in the gold lettering in the last photo directly above this (my) question?

 

You have some fabulous boxes 800 raver, thank-you for sharing them

 

Arnold and sons smithfield

 

I have another apothecary box that I'll be doing a post on soon

 

They do need restoring

 

I love old apothecary boxes. I'd love to own one, one day...

 

I do have 2 but all my boxes and antiques have been acquired by hard work not by spending lots of money..... I'll explain.... I take about 12 hrs a week looking through ebay (10'000's of lots) maybe out of those lots I find 1-20 that potentially might go for a song (poorly listed, bad photos, low starting bid, ending at an unsociable hour, rare obscure items, wrong category, even a high start price but would be a low end price) mainly all of them are in auction but sometimes I see a bargain in buy it now. Then I put them in my "watch list" 9 times out of 10 they will go for what they should but rarely, (after researching what a good price would be) they go for half or much less than they should, then I bid at the last second. Just one example, I found some pieces of ivory listed in tools, they just said "Vintage Bone Odd Shaped Pieces Chinese Game I Don't Know" after doing some research I find out that they are 1820-40 Canton ivory burr puzzles, I won the auction with postage for £12, I have been offered more than 20x that for just one of them and I got 2 with another just missing one piece as well as a cube puzzle missing the box. The above apothecary boxes, the one in the main listing had very bad photos, I paid £109 with postage and then sold a unrelated bottle from inside the box for £85 so the apothecary box cost me £24. Yes it's lots of work but I now have a house full of lovely antiques that I could have never afforded had I not put the work in. Below was the ebay photo, the link shows what they should look like when assembled. ....http://chinesepuzzles.org/puzzles-for-export/

 

These are my ones from the ebay listing reassembled