Featured Any guesses on country of origin?

Good evening everyone,

I got a lot of items in the mail today, but I wanted to get this one polished to show you and hopefully figure out country of origin. No marks, and I haven't acid tested for silver, but quite honestly I don't care because I think it's a gem either way. I'm fairly confident it will be silver anyways, but I wanted to get your thoughts on a possible country of origin? Here's a few before polish and post polish photos. Price was right at $25:

 

No idea...but its beautiful!

 

I think we're going to need @Any Jewelry for this one. I'm thinking the "letters" in that last picture might be something south-east Asian, but that's strictly a guess.

 

I was heading for Europe until I saw the text but now it's mediterranian??

 

someone must have taken 4 ever to hand hammer that.........
Nice N8 !!!!

 

Is this a mark??

 

Sadly no, I took a close look and it’s just part of the pattern as far as I can tell

 

Looks middle Eastern / Arabic.

 

I'm thinking Nepal.

 

Nepalese was going to be my guess as well - just a feeling.

 

LOVELY Nate .. WELL DONE !!! ... Joy.

 

It's a Burmese betel nut box

 

Ok, now I want to know HOW you know that. Seriously cool knowledge you just shared

 

That should be worth waaaaay more than melt. Great find MrNate.

 

It's incredible

 

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/archived_objects/shan-silver-burmese-betel-box/

Shan state in Burma sits right on the Laos/Thai border - so both could be true.

 

Gorgeous box, Nate. I also love the peacock man on the base.

@blooey is right, it is a betel box made by the Shan People of Burma/Myanmar.
The Shan are a sub-group of the Tai, a people of Chinese origin who moved south and are spread out over South and mainland Southeast Asia. So from northeastern India to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Southwest China.
Shan is the Burmese name, btw. The Shan call themselves Tai. Internationally they are either called Shan or Tai Shan. This is just for the Burmese sub-group.

Being spread out over such an enormous area, Tai culture varies from one place to another. This box is typical Tai Shan, so Burmese. Which doesn't mean it couldn't have been made 2 miles across the border, either in India, Thailand, Laos, or China. The style is Burmese Tai Shan though.

The Burmese Tai Shan have a peacock dance, maybe the peacock man is a dancer?

The different Tai groups and their arts are often mixed up. The betel boxes of the Tai Lao of Laos are often round, but usually not this 'biscuit barrel' shape. Tai Lao betel boxes are a related shape to Thai boxes.

It is difficult for those who don't read Tai to tell the different scripts apart, especially when they are hand written/engraved.
Looking at the alphabet chart below, I'd say the text isn't Lao Tai or Laotian.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_languages

 

Thank you so much for this, I’m so intrigued when pieces have world history. As much as I LOVE getting a big pile of sterling flatware, finds like this I find myself admiring and keeping in the collection. Thank you