Featured Tiny filigree box...

Acquired this itty-bitty (2.3cm X 1.9cm X 1.2cm) little box a while back - seller had no idea it was silver or even a box since the lid had been jammed on the wrong way. It really is quite sweet, and surprisingly sturdy, believe it has some decent age to it - looks to be a simple 6-facet rose cut Bohemian glass 'stone', it's not marked anywhere. Something about it said 'Dutch' to me so poked around a bit, and wonder if it's a miniature/toy version of a larger type box. @Any Jewelry - what do you think? Open to any and all suggestions...



















Before polishing:






Found a couple of oval Dutch filigree boxes of similar form and construction, and a few heart-shaped, but the majority were round - this one at the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, about twice the size of mine at 5.5cm X 2.7cm, caught my interest:


https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/collection/b-521



And this one, described as a "miniature (toy)", is still a bit larger than mine at 3.7cm X 1.25cm:


https://www.lakenhal.nl/nl/collectie/4335-20




~Cheryl

 

How sweet. Sometimes they are marked on the rim, might be worth looking to see if one is hiding on the flange, perhaps in a bent area hiding out of easy view.

 

What is in the rectangle in the 3rd photo?

 

looks like a ' J '..

 

It is an appealing little thing.

It's a patch at the seam, and it was where I focused most of my attempts to see if there might be marks, never any luck, but I'll see If I can get a good magnified close-up for better eyes than mine...

~Cheryl

 

It is a lovely petite item.

 

Okay, these are the best I could do - keep in mind that the rectangular patch is only 2mm X 5mm...













~Cheryl

 

It is gorgeous, Cheryl, I would have bought it too.

It could be Dutch, although the way the 'stone' is set and the patch don't look very Dutch to me. As you know, filigree is one of the most difficult techniques to find an origin of.
The type of scrollwork of the filigree frame is also seen on Dutch Frisian silver (yay!). But I honestly don't know if your cutie is Dutch.

There are some Dutch filigree miniatures on these silver miniatures pages:

https://haffmansantiek.nl/collectie...ls/miniaturen-19e-en-20e-eeuw-miniatures.html

Haffmans is a good site to explore Dutch silver in general.

While searching for a similar miniature filigree box, I put in a bid for a filigree necklace and bought a pair of antique 14k gold and coral earrings.
I will concentrate on trying to find a similar box now, promise.

 

Hehe, that happens to me too as I wander online looking for something...

Interestingly, the first thing that caught my eye there was this "possibly Dutch" work table, it reminds me of another piece from the same lot as the box, though it's on a bit larger scale:

https://haffmansantiek.nl/zilveren-miniatuur-handwerktafel-naaitafel-miniature-iligrain.html




My well-made little stool, with a threaded post to adjust height, is only 1.6cm in diameter and 1.8cm tall:












It was just so much fun to clean up:





And just to share, my slightly goofy miniature filigree table (3.9cm dia., 2cm ht.) and two chairs (3.2cm X 2.1cm) - bearing the 1875-1909 Hooijkaas 'H13' mark and 1814-1906 sword marks:




~Cheryl

 

For some weirdness, these two chairs and their somewhat creepy old occupants, the larger chair measures 4cm X 1.7cm, the height of the figures 3.2cm - import marks of Samuel Boyce Landeck, London 1904, and pseudo-mark of Dutch maker Rinze Jans Spaanstra:








~Cheryl

 

A lot of this style of filigree work was done in Italy,if marked very small marks,may be inside or on base.

columba.