Antique Coromandel Three Crystal Decanter Tantalus C1880 19th Century

This is a superb antique Victorian coromandel cased three decanter tantalus and games compendium box bearing an ormolu label for Mappin & Webb, C1880 in date

It was skillfully crafted in rare coromandel with cut brass mounts, three cut crystal glass decanters with stoppers and sterling silver labels, a mirrored back and a twin lidded compartment with a Bramah lock, with a drawer which opens to reveal compartments containing playing cards and bridge score cards.

The side doors feature two fitted shelves with six sherry glasses to the top and four port glasses below.

It is a decorative piece which is also very practical, and would make a lovely gift.

It is complete with the original working Bramah lock and key, and this locks everything.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned and waxed in our workshops, with only minor signs of use commensurate with age,please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 33 x Width 37 x Depth 25

Dimensions in inches:

Height 1 foot, 1 inch x Width 1 foot, 3 inches x Depth 10 inches

Mappin & Webb

founded in 1774 by Jonathan Mappin, Mappin & Webb is one of the UK's leading retailers of fine jewellery and silverware. Today, it is renowned for combining timeless craftsmanship with superior quality and contemporary design to produce exquisite jewellery, elegant silverware, watches and glassware.

Jonathan Mappin opened his first small silversmith workshop in Sheffield in 1774 and the following year the Mappin mark was entered at the assay office. Over the next fifteen years Jonathan Mappin's reputation for producing high quality silver spread throughout Sheffield. From these humble beginnings the business grew steadily and soon the next generation were expanding the business further

The first store was opened in London in 1849 at 17 Fore Street and was soon followed by stores in Moorgate and King William Street. In 1858, following rapid expansion of the Sheffield factory, John Newton Mappin invited his brother-in-law, George Webb to join him in the business. The first association of Mappin & Webb was forged.

Mappin & Webb is one of the UK's leading retailers of fine jewellery and silverware. Today, it is renowned for combining timeless craftsmanship with superior quality and contemporary design to produce exquisite jewellery, elegant silverware, watches and glassware.

Today Mappin & Webb is silversmith to Her Majesty the Queen and to His Royal Highness Prince of Wales.

Coromandel wood or Calamander wood

is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesita Thwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood.

Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel.

Bramah

is London's oldest security company. Established at 124 Piccadilly, London in 1784, and today based in Marylebone, London and Romford, Essex.

Bramah made their first lock in 1784 and the patent was awarded in 1787. The designer was Joseph Bramah. Joseph Bramah was a leading inventor of the industrial revolution, patenting over 18 new ideas, includi