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.

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Most Recent
Sampson Mordan, London 1881
Reserved
Sampson Mordan & Co, Chester 1916
£220.00
David Bowles, London 1988
Reserved
Saunders & Shepherd, Birmingham 1906
£230.00
David Bowles, London 2005
Reserved
Sampson Mordan, London 1887
£240.00
E H Watts & Co, London 1924
Reserved
Thomas Acott & Co, Birmingham 1894
£495.00
Rolason Bros, Birmingham 1903
£600.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1892
£195.00
J S Bell & Louis Willmott, London 1905
£300.00
A & J Zimmerman, Birmingham 1913
£600.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, Chester 1916
£345.00
Joseph Gloster, Birmingham 1902
£245.00
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
Rawlings & Summers, London 1859
£285.00
A & J Zimmerman, Birmingham 1897
£165.00
S Blanckensee & Sons Ltd, Birmingham 1897
£350.00
Sampson Mordan, London 1900
£295.00
William Francis Garrud, London 1891
£385.00
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
George Heath, London 1895
£1,500.00
S Blanckensee & Son Ltd, Birmingham 1914
£320.00
A J Zimmermann, Birmingham 1906
£380.00
Murrle Bennett & Co, London 1904
£2,500.00
Thomas Acott & Co, Birmingham 1896
£350.00
William Oliver, Birmingham 1887
£800.00
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