Picked Up Two Mid Century Jewelry Boxes

Picked these two up from an auction recently, I believe they are both from the 1950's. I think they are both quite lovely. I am keeping the wood one and selling the pinkish brown one.

Question - What would the pinkish one be made out of? I can't decide if it's brass or plastic. I also am not sure how to clean it.

The wood one has a photo in it that says October 1957

 

Sassy, the small one (not the wood one) could possibly be much older. What does the inside look like? (silk lined? velvet? no lining?)

Also, how about the bottom?

 

The pinkish one is art nouveau ,the wood one looks 1940s. I love the wooden one.

 

Ah, of course I forgot to take photos of the inside or bottom. I will take some more photos tomorrow and update!

 

The one you are calling pinkish brown is from the 1890s - Art Nouveau

Pot metal or spelter as some people call it - with a copper plating.
Should have a silk lining as SBSVC said.

 

I will venture to guess that the "pinkish" one is by WB Mfg. Co. (Weidlich Brothers Mfg. Co). They produced MANY items such as this. Most of these boxes were made of spelter electroplated with copper, gold or silver, and were called "metal art", many of them unlined (I have one and have sold a few!).

 

Call it "matte rose gold-tone"

 

Wow thank you all so much! We were racking our brains trying to figure out what it was MADE out of.

I took a few photos of the bottom and inside. It appears to be original lining, there is a braid where the lining meets the piece. The bottom says JB and 979

You guys are fantastic, thank you!

 

The JB may be Jennings Brothers. It looks the same as the marks on a pair of copper-plated candlesticks I showed here within the past couple of weeks or so, and Jennings was my conclusion.

 

Here's a picture of the JB mark on the bottom of one of the sticks. Note that the B is slightly double-stamped.

 

Here's a link to the page containing the Jennings Brothers marks that appear on silver plated items. Not that your box or my sticks were ever silver plated, they plated with other metals too.

http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_J.html

 

I'm amazed at the huge disparity in asking prices for these little boxes. (Some call them jewelry boxes, others jewelry caskets, and still others, ring boxes. Be sure to check all the different names if you want to look at them online.)

I randomly picked a few marked JB from eBay to include here:

This one sold last month for only $9.99 + S&H:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Art...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Asking prices are higher (which means little!) for these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JB-Victoria...d=292241664856&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851


http://www.ebay.com/itm/JB-Victoria...852990?hash=item1eceeffbfe:g:A~wAAOSwOTVZmxs0

And here's one that was likely silver-plated:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Jen...314797?hash=item33d543aeed:g:T4IAAOSw6DtYXAn2

 

Definitely looks the same! Wow, thanks! Off to google about them now haha

 

Thank you so much!

I had been googling for awhile and came to the same conclusion, that they aren't worth too much. I was surprised they are not worth more, I think they are very cool.

I am likely going to keep this one and give it as a gift at some point or keep it for myself.

 

I think these Art Nouveau caskets used to be more popular and sell for more money a few years back. Value has fallen.

Still think they are really neat, would make a very fun presentation box for a piece of jewelry or gift card, etc.