Early European P/W case?

[Paul Sullivan]

Hi folks,

A friend of mine recently purchased this ornate P/W case. I know my way around Am. P/W's but nothing of European ones, much less their cases. Can anyone give some info. of it's period and where it was made?

Here are the details he gave me along with pictures of the case.

"Unmarked silver case. The inside measures 4.2 cm, so that would be the largest diameter watch that would fit in. The opening for the glass is 4cm in diameter and the whole thing is 2cm thick. The outside diameter is 5cm. "


He's a very young antique/art dealer with no knowledge of watches and figures on selling it for scrap. I hate to see another P/W case go this way and hopefully he'd be better off selling to a collector.

 

[MartyR]

This is an outer of a pair case (so there would be no glass in it), and it is called "repousse" (with an acute accent on the last e which I can't reproduce) which means the design was created by pushing out the metal from the inside. It would very likely date from the 18th century, maybe the third quarter.

It must be continental European since it has (you say) no visible marks, but I don't know which country.

The case is quite damaged and worn. Having said that, no real antique or art dealer would consider scrapping this for the $50 or less it might bring as scrap.

 

[Squite]

I always get the feeling more of French than of Swiss design when I see repousse cases...maybe that's just me?

 

[MartyR]

My reaction was French, partly because of the clasical Roman (?) scene.

 

[Squite]

Yeah, it seems they hung onto using reposee later on in the 19th century, too, with single layer cases for cylinder movements.

 

[gmorse]

Hi,

That square joint makes me think it's a little earlier than late 18th century, and it could as easily be English as Continental I think. These cases sometimes have a very tiny maker's mark, (not a hallmark), secreted somewhere in the matted background, but with this amount of wear it's very hard to see. I should certainly not allow it to be scrapped!

Regards,

Graham

 

[John Pavlik]

To add to Grahams thought, I agree with him.. Personally I have not seen an English repousse silver or gold case with the outter case hallmarked in the traditional English style.. I vaguely seem to think I read somewhere that it was not always required... BUT that may be just a poor memory peaking through I do agree with Marty's dating...

 

[Paul Sullivan]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll paste your comments into an email and send them back to him. He has no physical shop but sells stuff online and works in a antique Chinese import porcelain dealer's shop in Boston.

Thanks again for the help!

Regards,

Paul

 

[gmorse]

Hello John,

I have the same thought regarding un-marked repoussé outer pair-cases, so maybe our memories aren't so bad after all . . .

Regards,

Graham

 

[John Pavlik]

Graham, my memory is Great, it's just short!