Antique 1906 Birmingham solid silver vesta case w g keight lovely hand engraved vesta silver vesta case this one is known as a breast pocket vesta because of the shape so it fits snuggly in your chest /wastecoat pocket clear Hallmarks for Birmingham 1906 w g keight 4 cm tall 3 cm wide
by W.G. Keight & Co of Birmingham and dates to 1906. Founded in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter in the early 1880s, the firm made a wide range of personal and household silverware up until around 1910.
vesta case, or simply a “vesta”, is a small box made to house wax, or "strike anywhere", matches. The first successful friction match appeared in 1826, and in 1832 William Newton patented the "wax vesta" in England.[1] It consisted of a wax stem with embedded cotton threads and a tip of phosphorus. Newton named his matches after Vesta, the Roman goddess of fire and the hearth. Small containers to house these friction matches were introduced shortly afterwards (in the early 1830s), to guard against accidental combustion. In England these containers took their name from the term Newton used for his invention, and they became known as "vesta cases", "vesta boxes" or simply "vestas". In America the more prosaic yet more descriptive term "match safes" was chosen.
We have 2 vesta cases for sale May sell together please contact us for pricing etc
Antique 1906 Birmingham solid silver vesta case w g keight
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