Featured What is this porcelain thing?

After all this, Aqui...I'm sorry: but fat chance. This 'thing' is a "pipe dream" as far as tobacco may be concerned.
It is pretty interesting clay...but beyond a persistent fantasy, nothing more than a conversational gambit...an' that only 'cause it's winter, an' we're bored. Offered without prejudice...

 

Could the little holes contain glass cups like one gets at communion? I don't think spoons in those holes just because the holes are too big and the spoons would just flop around.

 

Don't know what the Haviland piece is, but to my eye, those round holes seem unlikely for spoons, even appearing a bit too low for them. The item shown in the link is not a caviar server, with or without spoons, the French typically call it a 'confiturier', a 'jam pot' (for preserved fruit), or without spoons as a 'drageoir' for candied nuts, etc., or it might also be called a 'sucrier' for sugar - those from most other places they were more often just known as sugar bowls or sugar vases...


https://www.google.com/search?q=con...uAQ&bih=714&biw=1536&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS956US956


https://www.google.com/search?q=dra...gAE&bih=714&biw=1536&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS956US956


~Cheryl

 

Me, too.

I don't profess to know much about this stuff, but it doesn't seem surprising that such a set wouldn't be able to accommodate a sponge in the lid. I'd think it would be used on a temporary basis, perhaps for a shooting party, and not meant for long-term storage of tobacco.
The mouthpieces of the pipes would be inserted through the holes from underneath, which is how this figural Limoges pipe stand/tobacco jar was used:

 

here is the inside of the lid

 

Thank you so much for this information. I have emailed them. I'll update when I get a response!

 

@Any Jewelry, @laura9797 Its on worthpoint so no idea of price, but there are a
lot on ebay under Haviland

 

Looks like a make-up holder to me. lipsticks, mascara and brushes in the holes, removal pads in the little holder in front. maybe powder in the main container or eye shadow cases. BWDIK.

 

Here is the response from the President of the Haviland Collector's group. Of course, the collector wants to purchase it so maybe it will be an interesting lot to watch once we are uploaded?

Thank you for involving me in this project. I have seen a lot of Haviland in my time, in person, in books, and in many visits to the Haviland factory historical document archives in Limoges. But I have never seen one of these before, which leaves me only logic as the basis for my conclusions. I do not think that my fellow HCIF member experts have seen one either, and I have blind copied them. I will let you know if anyone else weighs in with anything different.

I would go along with the tobacco humidor pipe stand concept. It makes the most sense to me, especially considering the inclusion of pipes in the cartouche. Haviland made three different models of humidors at that time that I know of and have photographed, and they all used pipe 'holders' similar to the bars with holes on your piece. The other models are all from 1855, and I would think that yours is also from that era, possibly later. The bar mark places it from 1853-1865. The other three humidor models are figural (a Samurai warrior, an elephant, and a Native American child), while yours is more traditional in shape.

I would not recognize a Haviland caviar server if one was thrown at me. I do not know of Haviland ever making anything that they called a caviar server. As far as a dessert service goes, I have no idea what would have been included in the rest of the service and what role your piece would play in it.

 

Though I can see how it may work for such a use, it would be odd to decorate a make-up holder with such masculine motifs. Also, how many of those make-up items were actually manufactured in the mid-1800s?

 

here is another response from Haviland society:
I took a look again at the images that you sent and noticed something that further indicates that the piece is a tobacco humidor. What I noticed is a place in the inside of the cover that I believe could hold a dampened sponge, which would be used to keep the tobacco moist. The three figural humidor models with which I am familiar all have this space for a dampened sponge.

 

Just wanted to update the group that this piece sold for $5000. Wahooo!!!!

 

Wonderful, congratulations Laura!

 

Very impressive!

 

wowie.

 

Holy cow! Congratulations!!!

 

Tooth brush holder. Fondue set?

 

Yowser! Congrats!

 

@laura9797 - That is wonderful!!

Did you ever find out anything about the piece?

 

This thread has already reached its splendid denoument, but wondering if anyone else has heard something I seem to remember, that you don't use metal with caviar. Anyone else ever heard this?