Silver Vesta Cases

Vesta cases, which also go by the name of vesta boxes, matchsafes and pocket matchsafes, were used to stores vestas (short matches) and to keep them dry so that they were able to light when struck. They were first made in the 1830s, with their heyday being between 1890 and 1920, when everyone kept a vesta box to hand, though while the poor had boxes made from tin, the vesta boxes of the wealthy were made from gold and silver. Most vesta boxes had a ribbed surface on the bottom so that the owner could also strike the matches kept inside, while some also include cigar cutters and small knife blades. Steppes Hill Farm Antiques stocks a variety of antique silver vesta cases from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specialising in enamel, novelty and engraved designs.

1 - 60 of 73 items
Most Recent
Thomas Acott & Co, Birmingham 1894
£495.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1892
Reserved
Sampson Mordan, London 1888
Reserved
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1897
Reserved
Payton Pepper & Sons Ltd, Birmingham 1898
Reserved
Rolason Bros, Birmingham 1903
£600.00
Andrew Barrett & Sons, London c1900
Reserved
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1892
£195.00
Rolason Bros, Birmingham 1898
£520.00
J S Bell & Louis Willmott, London 1905
£300.00
Joseph Gloster, Birmingham 1896
£185.00
Robert Chandler, Birmingham 1905
£725.00
A & J Zimmerman, Birmingham 1913
£600.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, Chester 1916
£345.00
Joseph Gloster, Birmingham 1902
£245.00
Saunders & Shepherd, London 1883
£700.00
Sampson Mordan, London 1889
£1,650.00
Henry William Dee, London 1873
£280.00
Saunders & Shepherd, Birmingham 1909
£350.00
John William Barrett, Birmingham 1909
£350.00
Robert Chandler, Birmingham 1910
£165.00
Horace Woodward & Co, Birmingham 1909
£210.00
William Light, Birmingham 1906
Reserved
Rawlings & Summers, London 1859
£285.00
A & J Zimmerman, Birmingham 1897
£165.00
Sampson Mordan, London 1892
Reserved
S Blanckensee & Sons Ltd, Birmingham 1897
£350.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1891
Reserved
Louis Kuppenheim, Pforzheim c1915
Reserved
Horton & Allday, Birmingham 1902
Reserved
Sampson Mordan, London 1900
£295.00
William Francis Garrud, London 1891
£385.00
George Unite, Birmingham 1868
Reserved
Tiffany & Co, New York c1890
Reserved
J H Hillcox, Birmingham 1906
£445.00
S.Blanckensee & Son Ltd, Birmingham 1893
£365.00
Thomas Johnson, London 1874
£865.00
James Fenton, Birmingham 1906
£750.00
The Goldmsiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd, London 1913
£950.00
J C Vickery, London 1911
£575.00
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