A SMALL COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE SILVER
AND OBJECTS OF VERTU
silver wax-jack (bougie-box, taper-box) - Italy
The wax jack was a container or a support holding up a taper, treated with wax or turpentine, lit to heat the block of sealing wax used to fasten letters and documents. Usually, a personal seal with a design cut into the bottom was pressed into the hot wax to leave personal identification. After the seal hardened, it was almost impossible to secretly open the letter, because the wax would break.The wax jack was a common endowment for a desk writing set, along with the inkwell, sand container and bell. Occasionally wax jacks were used as a mobile light, perhaps because they were more stable than taper sticks, blew out less easily and gave a better light. The bougie-box or taper-box was a cylindrical container to hold the wax-taper coil when not in use. The cover was originally flat and a tube at the top of the cover permitted the coiled taper to emerge. Some had a chain-attached candle estinguisher.
This is a silver wax-jack (bougie box, taper box) made in Italy (Regno Lombardo Veneto) at the mid of the 19th century. It has the shape of a cylindrical container with beaded lid, handle and domed cover.
It is hallmarked with "Mondo e Trioni" (800/1000 silver), FA (silversmith) and another unreadable mark.The wax-jack is 3 1/2 in. high (cm. 9) and was bought from an Italian dealer through the Internet.
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This is a page of 'The What is? Silver Dictionary' of A Small Collection of Antique Silver and Objects of vertu, a 1500 pages richly illustrated website offering all you need to know about antique silver, sterling silver, silverplate, Sheffield plate, electroplate silver, silverware, flatware, tea services and tea complements, marks and hallmarks, articles, books, auction catalogs, famous silversmiths (Tiffany, Gorham, Jensen, Elkington), history, oddities ...
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This is a page of 'The What is? Silver Dictionary' of A Small Collection of Antique Silver and Objects of vertu, a 1500 pages richly illustrated website offering all you need to know about antique silver, sterling silver, silverplate, Sheffield plate, electroplate silver, silverware, flatware, tea services and tea complements, marks and hallmarks, articles, books, auction catalogs, famous silversmiths (Tiffany, Gorham, Jensen, Elkington), history, oddities ...