Rosewood Watch Box, White-Metal Bound, c.1870-1900
A Victorian rosewood presentation box made to hold a single pocket watch, bound in white metal with a diamond escutcheon at the lock.
The box is worked in figured rosewood with nickel-silver edge binding and corner mounts, the lid rising to a shallow dome. The front carries a white-metal lozenge around the keyhole. Inside, it is fitted in purple velvet across two compartments: a shaped cradle with a pendant tongue that holds a watch of about 40mm, and a plain flat section alongside for a key, chain or papers. It carries no maker's or retailer's name.
Boxes of this kind were supplied by the anonymous boxmaking trade to jewellers and watch retailers through the second half of the nineteenth century, and were usually engraved to order. This one has lost its engraved nameplate, and the recess where it sat is still visible on the lid.
Condition is honest. The rosewood and the metal binding are complete and the lid opens and shuts cleanly. There is no key, so the lock is untested, and the velvet ring around the cradle is lifting near the pendant slot. Age wear and dust throughout. Measures 9.5 by 6.5 cm.
