Box - Wood, Brass, Bone

Napoleon III Playing Case / Token Box – Exotic wood, brass and bone tokens – France, 19th century

Elegant French 19th-century playing case, presumably from the Napoleon III era, intended for card and salon games.

The case features a very fine construction in warm brown-red veneered wood, probably mahogany, highlighted on the interior by darker frames.

The lid is adorned at its center with a delicate brass inlay depicting several playing cards fanned out, a design particularly evocative of its original function.

Upon opening, the case reveals a particularly appealing and well-preserved interior layout.

It comprises four removable individual boxes, each corresponding to one of the four suits of the playing cards:

* spades
* hearts
* clubs
* diamonds

Each lid is decorated with its corresponding symbol by a contrasted inlay.

The four compartments still house a very substantial collection of old bone tokens, including several formats: circular tokens as well as rectangular fiches
The compartments are nevertheless still largely stocked, which constitutes a genuine interest for a case of this period, whose accessories have often been scattered or lost over time.

A central compartment completes the layout and was probably intended to hold the playing cards or various accessories.

This type of case was used in bourgeois and aristocratic European salons for different card games and stake games, notably quadrille, whist or Boston.

Specifications

Era: 19th century, probably mid / second half of the 19th century
Style: Napoleon III
Origin: probably France
Materials: veneered wood, probably mahogany or other exotic wood, brass, wood and bone tokens
Decor: playing cards and four suits
Dimensions: 27 × 15.8 × 5.8 cm
Contents: four removable token boxes and a substantial collection of old tokens/fiches
Key: missing
Playing cards: absent

Condition

Good overall condition for its age.

The case shows an authentic old patina, as well as various normal traces of use and time: superficial scratches, small marks and wear especially on the lid and edges and missing inner border trims in the compartments (see photos) and the two brass threads on the top.

The interior remains particularly decorative and retains its four removable boxes as well as a large quantity of old tokens.

No major restoration is apparent in the photographs.

The numerous photographs are an integral part of the description and allow precise appreciation of the case’s condition, patina, and contents.

A very beautiful collectible object, at once decorative and historical, particularly interesting for the preservation of its interior arrangement and its substantial collection of old gaming tokens.