Limoges Enamel Silver Scent Bottle - C. 1880

This French Limoges enamel, etui shaped, scent bottle is lovely with its dramatic look from the artistic use of shades of off-white to gray and gold highlights on the black background. The company then complemented and drew attention to the shades of gray by using beautifully tooled silver mounts on the bottle.

The enamel is in excellent minus condition with no deep scratches, large chips, nasty abrasions or repairs. You can find from use some small surface chips to the enamel and a couple very very tiny ones where the copper metal base peeks through. In photo # 7 and the top of photo # 8 you can see an approximate 1/64 inch of copper. In the bottom of photo # 8 you can see where the copper base is peeking through on the rim between the top and the side of the lid. In photo # 6 you can see what is a makers flaw as well as some crazing and an approximate 1/32 inch chip. The makers flaw is that strange on-again off-again line running through the enamel. We have never figured out what causes this but have seen it quite often in fired on enamels. We can only guess at reasons like: enamel not dense enough, an impurity that burns out during firing or maybe an unclean/oily surface on the base metal. The areas of copper peeking through and the small surface only chips to the black are very minor wear to a perfume of this age. We would much rather offer this bottle with all original enamel and minor wear then one with extensive loss and / or extensive repairs from the same time period.

The silver mountings are in excellent condition with no rips, holes, dents or repairs. The hinge to the lid is all original and in smooth working order. The interior of the lid and top of the bottle area have a medium toned vermeil (a form of gold plating) surface. The top of the bottle has two applied stylized leaves and some hand engraving as well as a clear glass internal stopper. In inspection of the silver I found what may be an extremely minute triangle makers touch mark. Its size is so tiny that I cannot read it. I found no silver content mark but per a French dealer friend this is not unusual. We were told that on tiny trims/mountings a silver content mark was not mandatory. The mountings are silver and Rich will guarantee a minimum content of 800 silver.

The perfume measures 3 5/8 inches tall by 1 3/8 inches at it's widest point by 3/4 inches at it's deepest point. A beautifully designed Limoges scent bottle from the last half of the 19th century for a collection.

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