Product Description
A bit of History About La Tausca Jewelry Boxes
This beautiful antique 1920's brass bronze jeweled box by La Tausca was originally purchased as a presentation chest for a high quality pearl necklace. These boxes were made in various shapes from square to rectangular, and octagonal. Some boxes had colored glass jewels, or simulated coral, onyx, jade or turquoise, and some had cameos. They were lined with ivory silk with La Tausca Pearls printed in gold lettering on the inside of the lid. The high quality faux pearls were given to the bride on her wedding day to wear with her wedding attire. The pearls were compared to real pearls with their supreme opalescence glow. Old magazine advertisements showed the bride in her wedding finery wearing the pearls. They were priced from 30.00 to 500.00. Quite a bit of money in the 1920's. Ads tout the jewel chests as being made by The Goldsmiths of Old, and saying "what lovelier possession could feminine heart desire or affection bestow".
This particular design of presentation box is from 1924. The pearls that were in it are long gone. It's rectangular in shape and features raised metal repousse designs throughout and accented with beautiful, purple, faceted, glass jewels, which are bezel set on the top. Open the lid, and you see La Tausca Pearls in very faint gold lettering printed on the ivory silk inside the lid lining. The interior is silk lined, top and bottom, and shows some age related use as shown. In most of these old boxes the lining is completely missing so it's nice to have it here. The outside bottom of the box has some some scratches and a couple of small dents. There is a slight linear break or separation of the metal from the top of the lid handle to the body of the box itself. (see close up photo) Nothing too serious and does not really show when looking at the box in normal view. It has a dark patina now which I would recommend to polish gently only to highlight the upraised design areas.
Another point of interest to this box is the typed prayer pinned to the inside of the lid. It is actually 2 prayers, one on each side. The back states "Read psalm 5 and it is all there. I did not remove this slip of paper as it's quite fragile with a short tear at the top where it's pinned so there is not a picture of that. However, I took a photo of the front prayer so please view the photo to read it.
Measures 6~5/8 across x 4~5/8" x approx. 2" deep.
Fabulous to use or display. These lovely old boxes a now much harder to come by, They never cease to fascinate us...
and what a charming glimpse into the past
