Featured Found a site full of sewing related antiques- tools, boxes, etc

https://www.bleasdalesltd.co.uk/catalogues/
found this auction house and all catalogues are published and free to download, just look at these...so enjoyable to browse!

 

Are sewing related antiques your thing? I have a sewing box, of course I don't using it for my sewing needs lol

 

Well as long as it's a box I don't mind what comes in with it but looking at this box I learnt what you meant by no one alive can do it again! Even the edge on the little inner lids is crazy

 

Yes each panel is hand carved Sandalwood with Sadeli, ivory and ebony stringing made in around 1860-1880. All the sewing equipment is ivory and cast brass feet and handles, it would be very difficult to reproduce today if not impossible (a lost art) This is also sewing related, a sewing basket (handle missing) but it's early around 1810-1820 made from figured Sandalwood (very rare) and carved ivory with lac inlay, horn and ivory feet.

 

Beautiful box!

 

Very impressive. Beautiful craftsmanship! With such detail,I often wonder how long it took a highly skilled craftsman to made.

 

The truth is I don't know how long these works took but I suspect the sewing basket was one of the quickest boxes I have to make. I not saying the basket was easy but the others are so complex and so well executed I reckon they took months to make. I have a antique Hoshiarpur table and the other day I was looking up the price of a new one as they still make them (not using the same material) and fortunately they said how long it took to make, it takes about a year for a very skilled person. The table I have has about 4000 cut and shaped inlayed pieces of ivory and the ebony as well as making and designing of the table. The mind boggles when you think there was no power tools and a lot of these craftsmen were working on the street as early photos show.

 

If you just take this small 8" x 5" x 2.5" Hoshiarpur box it has 650 shaped ivory inlayed pieces and that's not including any of the stringing.

 

Indeed, and given that ivory is banned today, making these even more precious!

 

Today these are made with plastic inlays, personally I don't see why they didn't use bone as this would have made them almost impossible to tell the difference between a antique one or a modern one. The difference in price is huge, you can pick up a good modern used Hoshiarpur table for £250 but the same antique ivory inlayed table would cost £2500, there really isn't any difference between the two apart from the inlay.

 

Yes bone is better, the imperfection in natural material is charming