Two Antique c. 1890 Novelty Solid Brass Gilded Figural Sea Shell Match Safes. 1- Antique c. 1890 Novelty Match Safe Vesta in the form of a clam shell. Has a raised ribbed effect to both the front and back, opens and closes well with a snap, and has a double striker on the back of the vesta case.2x2x.50". 2- Antique c. 1890 Novelty Match Safe Vesta in the form of a mollusk shell. Has a raised ribbed effect to both the front and back, opens and closes well with a snap, and has the striker on the side under the hinge. 1.25x2.25x.50". Wt to ship 2 oz. Very good examples of Victorian Match safes in good condition with minimal wear. PROVENANCE: A Private Charleston SC Estate. The invention of the useful but somewhat hazardous strike anywhere match in the 1830s necessitated the need for vesta cases. But these small portable match safes also came to say much about the status, wealth and personality of their owner. As part of the essential dress code of the Victorian and Edwardian era they were, like the snuffbox or the propelling pencil, were made in a whole range of materials and forms from the purely functional to the deluxe and the novel. Many of the novelty figural vesta cases come from the 1880s, when smoking became fashionable. By 1920 with the invention of the petrol lighter, these faded from popular fashion.

Antique - good, minimal age appropriate wear.