What were trinket boxes originally used for?

Many were made for a specific consumable or accessory: snuff, face patches, tea, stamps, gloves, or sewing kit. Each acquired its own purpose-made container through the 18th and 19th centuries. "Trinket box" is the later trade label. Dealers use it for jewellery and keepsake boxes, and often for caddies, glove boxes and work boxes that started life doing something else.

Which woods appear most often?

Walnut and rosewood lead the timber words in titles, followed by burr walnut, mahogany, oak and ebony. Papier mâché bodies, japanned and hand painted, run through the snuff and pocket boxes. Olivewood, fruitwood, laburnum and coquilla nut show up in the treen and turned end of the archive.

How old are most of these boxes?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1950, with 205 listings carrying a clean year. Era tags carry the rest: 19th Century, Victorian, Georgian, Regency, Edwardian, plus decade tags for the 1880s, 1890s, 1900s and 1920s. A handful sit earlier, tagged 17th Century or simply "Before 1700". A Welsh oak table box in the archive is put at around 1640.

Are trinket boxes on Sellingantiques mostly English?

No. French appears in more titles than English, and Japanese and Indian pieces both have a steady presence. The geography shows in the decoration too: sadeli mosaic from Anglo-Indian workshops, damascened iron and cloisonné from Japan, ormolu-mounted glass and porcelain from France.

Do many carry silver hallmarks?

Silver is a minority of the category, and a smaller share again of live stock. Assay towns are barely recorded in titles at all. Chester, London and Birmingham are the only offices named across the whole sample, so a stated assay date is the exception rather than the pattern.

What unusual forms turn up in this category?

Novelty shapes surface regularly. A horse's hoof snuff box, boxes made as stacking books, a football, a coach and horses, a Georgian house facade, and treen boxes carved as ladies' feet in open-toed shoes. Other one-offs include prisoner-of-war straw work, tramp art, shellwork, and a snuff box made from oak salvaged after the 1834 Houses of Parliament fire. Star tortoise shells mounted as jewellery boxes and porcupine quill boxes from Ceylon appear more than once.

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Antique Trinket Boxes

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A trinket box is a small lidded container, usually under about 30cm, made to hold jewellery, snuff, patches, stamps, gloves or keepsakes.

18th century

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Fine 18th-century Flemish Ebony & Parquetry Table Casket

From Colton Antiques

£2,750

FOR SALE

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19th century

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Victorian Domed Rosewood Glove Box

From Past to Present

£125

FOR SALE

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18th C. Georgian Silver Patch Box, Decorated with a Shield Shaped Blind Cartouche.

17th century

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18th C. Georgian Silver Patch Box, Decorated with a Shield Shaped Blind Cartouche.

From Beech and Springs Antiques

£185

FOR SALE

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French Decorative Inlaid Thuya Wood Collectors Box

19th century

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French Decorative Inlaid Thuya Wood Collectors Box

From Beechmount Antiques

£675

FOR SALE

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A Rare Hunter and Palmer Novelty Biscuit Tin Produced to Look Like an Indian Carved Hardwood Box.

1900 - 1920

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A Rare Hunter and Palmer Novelty Biscuit Tin Produced to Look Like an Indian Carved Hardwood Box.

From Robert Belcher Antiques

£168

FOR SALE

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Antique Glove Box, Oriental, Inlaid Decorative Casket, Qing Dynasty, Edwardian

1900 - 1920

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Antique Glove Box, Oriental, Inlaid Decorative Casket, Qing Dynasty, Edwardian

From London Fine Antiques

£775

FOR SALE

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19th century

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Hand Painted French Table Box C.1920

From Michael Johnson Antiques

£140

FOR SALE

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Fantastic Quality Antique Victorian Burr Walnut and Brass Bound Glove Box

19th century

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Fantastic Quality Antique Victorian Burr Walnut and Brass Bound Glove Box

From Unique Antiques by Emma Jade

£465

FOR SALE

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An Arts and Crafts Box Covered in Hand Beaten Pewter Good Condition

1900 - 1920

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An Arts and Crafts Box Covered in Hand Beaten Pewter Good Condition

From Gerard Robinson Fine Art and Antiques

£225

FOR SALE

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,A Russian Silver-gilt and Cloisonne Enamel Box

19th century

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,A Russian Silver-gilt and Cloisonne Enamel Box

From Bushells Antiques

£2,750

FOR SALE

boxes

Tunbridge ware runs through about twenty-five titles on Sellingantiques, as trinket boxes, stamp boxes, snuff boxes, tea caddies, work boxes and a white ware variant.

19th century

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A Carved Wood Casket, Qajar Iran, 19th Century

From H & H Gallery

£5,500

FOR SALE

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Antique English Victorian Papier-mâché Ladies Jewellery Casket

19th century

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Antique English Victorian Papier-mâché Ladies Jewellery Casket

From Applecross Antiques

£1,850

FOR SALE

boxes

19th century

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Victorian Tunbridge Ware Trinket Box

From Sinclairs Antiques and Interiors

£250

FOR SALE

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Unusual Antique English Inlaid Table / Desk Box - American Indian & Lion C.1880

19th century

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Unusual Antique English Inlaid Table / Desk Box - American Indian & Lion C.1880

From Puckerings

£530

FOR SALE

boxes

Early Victorian Coromandel and Mother of Pearl Jewellery Box C1850

19th century

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Early Victorian Coromandel and Mother of Pearl Jewellery Box C1850

From Aramis Antiques

£850

FOR SALE

boxes

19th century

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Hand Painted Tole Ware Tobacco Box

From Gerard Robinson Fine Art and Antiques

£185

FOR SALE

boxes

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Antique Trinket Boxes

Fine 18th-century Flemish Ebony & Parquetry Table Casket

Victorian Domed Rosewood Glove Box

18th C. Georgian Silver Patch Box, Decorated with a Shield Shaped Blind Cartouche.

French Decorative Inlaid Thuya Wood Collectors Box

A Rare Hunter and Palmer Novelty Biscuit Tin Produced to Look Like an Indian Carved Hardwood Box.

Antique Glove Box, Oriental, Inlaid Decorative Casket, Qing Dynasty, Edwardian

Hand Painted French Table Box C.1920

Fantastic Quality Antique Victorian Burr Walnut and Brass Bound Glove Box

An Arts and Crafts Box Covered in Hand Beaten Pewter Good Condition

,A Russian Silver-gilt and Cloisonne Enamel Box

A Carved Wood Casket, Qajar Iran, 19th Century

Antique English Victorian Papier-mâché Ladies Jewellery Casket

Victorian Tunbridge Ware Trinket Box

Unusual Antique English Inlaid Table / Desk Box - American Indian & Lion C.1880

Early Victorian Coromandel and Mother of Pearl Jewellery Box C1850

Hand Painted Tole Ware Tobacco Box

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