Featured Old Antique Box !

Hello everyone,
Iam new to this forum. Iam from lebanon/middleeast.
This box belonged to my grandfather he was born in 1920.
The only mark that i found on the box is the "M".
Does this box have any significance ? Or just a normal box ?
Please help, thank you

 

Welcome to the forum, Abdulrahman.
Please say hello to Lebanon for me, it was one of my father's favourite countries. I was in Beirout for a flash visit in 1970, much too short, but I loved it.

Could we see a picture of the inside, and could you give us the dimensions please?

 

Very glad to hear that !
Dimensions: 3.7", 2.4" and 1.1" thick

 

I am not very good with inches, I am in Continental Europe, we are metric, but it sounds like a cigarette box.
It looks Art Deco, it would already have had some age when your father got it. Maybe it was bought by your great-grandfather?
I don't know the maker, but others will be along later, they may know.

 

we use the metric system too but i thought you were from the US or UK, lol.
9cm, 6cm and 3cm.
Yes i think it was bought by my great-grandfather and he used to roll cigarettes.

 

bonjour, this looks rather like a company sign to me. did one of your relatives work for a company starting with an M ?
and no wonder that it looks art deco. Beirut was called Paris of the middle east.

 

Bonjour, we actually live in north Lebanon. We didn't have any companies back then, all of my family are farmers (apples, peaches, beans, wheat,....).
but i can tell you that this area was colonized by the French and the Turks at a certain period of time.

 

It is a sliverplate Japanese cigarette box. The M in a diamond is a maker's mark. I may have known who it stand for at one time but sure can't dredge it up now. Not able to identify it with a quick search on the internet either.

 

I agree the M is a maker's mark. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was Japanese, they made a lot of small silverplate boxes in the early 20th century.
A company logo would have been in a more prominent place.

Beirut was still the Paris of the East when I was there, and it was very cosmopolitan. The country has suffered a lot, but always manages to bounce back. And Grand Old Lady Beirut does as well. They need our help to cope with the refugees now, but this is not a political forum. (Just voicing my moral support.)

 

Welcome Abdulrahman from Australia.
Your small box is really lovely and I agree it looks beautifully Art Deco from around 1920's. What a nice memory to have of your grandfather. I can't help much with details, but it struck me that the 9cm length may have fitted the very popular French cigarette Gauloises which were introduced in 1910 and made by Imperial Tobacco. I expect they were as popular in Lebanon and Beirut as they were in France and Paris.
Gauloises were made from dark tobacco from the Middle East. They were very strong and bits of tobacco lodged in your mouth as they were unfiltered. Smokers had to pick the bits out with their fingers. I remember coughing badly when I smoked them (for a very short time) but I thought I looked so cool!
9cm seems about the right length to me as Gauloises are still shorter and thicker than other cigarettes. Filters were introduced in the 1980's.

French actress Brigitte Bardot with the ubiquitous Gauloises:


More information courtesy of Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauloises

Good Luck.

 

First - welcome. And second, definitely a cigarette box. Now... a whatever you feel like box.

 

Thank you very much sir !

 

is it typically japanese then to do hammering in the style of reptile skin ?

 

It was done a lot in the Art Deco period in Europe as well. Also in the Art Nouveau period. This could be a transitional piece. The radiant eye theme was popular in the late Art Nouveau era, but when it is as prominent as this, there certainly is an Art Deco feel.

 

I hope brad will come up with a name. I'm still not convinced that this is Japanese and not French.

 

Welcome from France, Abdulrahman!
And kudos for posting your nice box with full size neat pics!!!

 

While I can't come up with a name, here is a query about this same mark with Made In Japan with it on a cream and sugar set.....

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archi...e-Silver-plated-cream-amp-sugar/td-p/17214833

These textured bottoms on cigarette boxes are typically Japanese.

 

I think I have a Déjà-Vu