Art Nouveau gilt jewelry casket

AMERICAN ART METAL JEWELRY BOXES 1900-1925

Jewelry boxes have long been treasured, for they have held precious items -sometimes valuable in themselves, sometimes valuable for their memories. Throughout history, jewelry boxes had been constructed and designed by craftsmen, one box at a time, each a unique piece reflecting the style of the time and locale.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, all this changed. And as we know, the concept of mass production was avidly adopted in the United States during the late 19th early 20th centuries. For the first time, metal objects like jewelry boxes, for example, could be cast in quantity and, through mail order catalogs (Sears and Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, Marshall Field), American ladies of the early 1900’s could aspire to the “high style” of the world’s great cities like London and Paris.

Jewel boxes, also called 'caskets', gained great favor -from the tiniest ring box to the very large handkerchief and glove boxes. They were made of cast metal, first plated with copper, then with silver or gold. They were lined with fine pale-colored silks from Japan and China, printed faille and satin/sateen, and were often trimmed with a fine twisted silk cording. Austin N. Clark & Company Jewelry Catalog, Chicago, IL, 1913