Why do so many listings say Georgian rather than a year?

Dealers file these by period as often as by date. Of 332 listings, 101 are catalogued Victorian and 82 Georgian, with a further 31 as simply 19th Century. Only 96 carry a clean year in the dated field. Where years do appear they run from 1800 to 1910.

Which assay office turns up most?

Birmingham, named in 45 titles and the assay town of record for the category. Edinburgh, London and Sheffield appear far less often. The unusual origins in the archive include a Scandinavian heart-shaped box, a Hanau shoe, a French cornucopia, an Austrian enamel box and an American purse.

What is a castle top vinaigrette?

A box whose lid is chased with a named building or monument. The views recorded here are Windsor, Kenilworth, Abbotsford, Newstead Abbey, the Scott Monument, St Paul's and Christchurch College, Oxford. They are scarcer than their reputation suggests, appearing in 9 of 332 titles, and they sit at the top of the range.

Are novelty shapes common?

They form a substantial minority. Purses, satchels, books, acorns, shells, eggs and horns recur, and the strangest of them turn up once each across the whole archive. Among the one-offs are an articulated fish, a swan, a mussel, a walnut, a snake, a cowrie shell, a thimble, a fob watch and a rose-spray brooch.

Do coloured glass vinaigrettes exist?

Yes, silver-mounted glass forms a distinct seam, roughly a tenth of the listings. Amethyst, cranberry, opaline, ruby, Bristol blue, Bristol green, amber and uranium yellow all appear. Most are catalogued around 1880 to 1890. Hardstone mounts sit alongside them: agate, carnelian, citrine, lapis lazuli and granite.

How many come up for sale?

Around 45 a year are listed on Sellingantiques, and 50 different dealers have handled them. That spread means the category sits across the trade generally rather than with a handful of specialists.

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Antique Silver Vinaigrettes

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A vinaigrette is a small hinged silver box with a pierced inner grille, made to hold a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar and carried in a pocket or reticule to be sniffed against faintness and bad air.