Silver Vesta Cases

Vesta cases, which also go by the name of vesta boxes, matchsafes and pocket matchsafes, were used to stores vestas (short matches) and to keep them dry so that they were able to light when struck. They were first made in the 1830s, with their heyday being between 1890 and 1920, when everyone kept a vesta box to hand, though while the poor had boxes made from tin, the vesta boxes of the wealthy were made from gold and silver. Most vesta boxes had a ribbed surface on the bottom so that the owner could also strike the matches kept inside, while some also include cigar cutters and small knife blades. Steppes Hill Farm Antiques stocks a variety of antique silver vesta cases from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specialising in enamel, novelty and engraved designs.

1 - 60 of 72 items
Most Recent
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1891
£1,650.00
Stokes & Ireland, Chester 1899
£245.00
Louis Kuppenheim, Pforzheim c1915
£300.00
Watson & Co, Attleboro, Massachusetts c1900
£265.00
Trevitt & Sons, Chester 1908
Reserved
Linder Napoleon, Paris c1900
Reserved
Henry Charless Freeman, London 1896
Reserved
Webster & Co, Attleboro, Massachusetts c1900
£180.00
Horton & Allday, Birmingham 1902
£900.00
Unger Bros, Newark, New Jersey c1890
£240.00
Frank M Whiting Co, Attleboro, Massachusets c1890
£360.00
The Gorham Manufacturing Co, Providence Rhode Island c1900
£360.00
The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company Ltd, London 1899
£700.00
Howard James, Birmingham 1886
£775.00
Deakin & Francis, Birmingham 1909
Reserved
Frederick William Bauer, Birmingham 1894
Reserved
Sampson Mordan, London 1900
£295.00
Louis Kuppenheim, Pforzheim, German c1910
£300.00
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1892
Reserved
William Francis Garrud, London 1891
£385.00
Saunders & Shepherd, London 1902
£360.00
Sebastian Garrard, London 1911
£1,050.00
George Unite, Birmingham 1868
£265.00
Asprey & Co, London c1930
£845.00
Henry William Dee, London 1867
Reserved
Tiffany & Co, New York c1890
£300.00
Deakin & Francis, Birmingham 1912
£245.00
Sampson Mordan, Chester 1905
£480.00
J H Hillcox, Birmingham 1906
£445.00
S.Blanckensee & Son Ltd, Birmingham 1893
£365.00
Thomas Johnson, London 1874
£865.00
James Fenton, Birmingham 1906
£750.00
Rawlings & Summers, London 1855
Reserved
The Goldmsiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd, London 1913
£950.00
J C Vickery, London 1911
£575.00
George Heath, London 1895
£1,500.00
S Blanckensee & Son Ltd, Birmingham 1914
£320.00
Click here to view sold items from this category