French Lacquered Silver & Gold Inlay Aide Memoire Sampson Mordan Silver & Citrine Pencil

A fine quality mid 19th century Grand Tour French black lacquered papier mache aide memoire with silver and gold pique decoration with a larger diamond shaped cartouche. It is lined with red silk and held closed with a silver propelling pencil, made by Sampson Mordan & Co. and inset to the end with a citrine seal. Inside is a small purse pocket at the front and the original paper inserts titled "Souvenir", an ornate illustrated calendar, covered in the red silk again, dated 1848, and listing every day alongside the Saint to whom that day is dedicated. There is also a separate paper weekday diary. The pencil has machine engraved detailing and is marked "S. MORDAN&Co" which dates it to a bit later than the case, c.1860.

The case measures 9.5cm (3 3/4") tall by 6.3cm (2 1/2") wide and the pencil is 8.6cm (3 3/8") long.

In excellent condition with minimal handling wear to the front cover and only minor and as o be expected to the reverse. The velvet covered spine has been rubbed quite smooth. The silk is in very good condition, just worn at the edges of the pencil loops and to the tips of the corners. No tears to the little purse section or the inserts and they are free from annotation. The pencil has a small dint but otherwise is excellent and the citrine seal is unengraved.

Payment is accepted by bank transfer, card payments (via an online invoice, I'm afraid we cannot take payments over the telephone), Paypal and UK personal cheque. If you prefer to pay card payments by Stripe rather than Paypal, please go to our website where we offer that option and additionally options to "Pay in 30 days" and to pay in 3 instalments, all securely supported by Klarna.

Price includes UK postage. We ship worldwide for a small cost, please ask for details. For US customers, current tariff charges of 10% must be paid in advance of posting. Please contact us to go through the details.

We wish to ensure all our customers are happy with their purchases and offer a full no quibble return policy for all items returned within 14 days. We ask that returns are notified within 7 days where possible. Return postage is the buyer's responsibility in terms of cost and safeguarding the item in transit.

In the unlikely event any damage has occurred during shipping please advise as soon as possible and within 2 days of receipt at the latest. If you cannot inspect the item within those 2 days please just let us know.

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