Late 19th Century Cf Monroe Wave Crest Shell Pattern Enamel Glass Box

Description

Antique C F Monroe Wave Crest Glass Shell Pattern Jewelry Box, Wave Crest Glass, Victorian Wave Crest, Vanity Decor, Powder … more Antique C F Monroe Wave Crest Glass Shell Pattern Jewelry Box, Wave Crest Glass, Victorian Wave Crest, Vanity Decor, Powder Room Decor

~ MEASUREMENT: 4" across x 2-3/4" high

This is an exquisite antique Victorian satin matte opal glass dresser jar/jewelry trinket box. It has a shell pattern lid with tiny enamel flowers in colors of brown, gold and white set against a very pale matte green finish. It has a detailed brass ormolu band around edge ... both lid and base.

This piece has a hinge back, and the lid still has its original pale pink silk lining.

~ CONDITION: Beautiful antique condition. Exterior is gorgeous and has no missing paint. The ornate gold gilt banding is beautiful. The interior is clean ... the silk lining does show age with shattering ... perfectly normal for a 100+ year old piece! Be sure to view all photos.

~ SIGNED: The bottom has the Wave Crest Logo Trademark which dates it to the 1800s. This mark is the beautiful red banner mark which also indicates “Trade Mark” and also the “C.F.M. Co and what appears to be a bird in flight.

Wave Crest glass is an opaque white glassware manufactured by the Pairpoint Manufacturing Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and some French factories. It was decorated by the C.F. Monroe Company of Meriden, Connecticut. The glass was painted in pastel colors and decorated with flowers. Thick enamel flourishes were added to Wave Crest glass as added decoration. The name Wave Crest was used after 1898.

About the Monroe Wave Crest Dresser Box:

The Monroe Co. did not manufacture its own glass; rather, it bought its blanks, i.e. undecorated glass, from France, Mt. Washington-Pairpoint and possibly other American glass houses. These glass blanks were of an opaque, creamy white glass called, by the trade. Opal Ware.

Before the blanks were decorated, some of them were treated to an acid bath which gave the blanks a soft, lusterless finish.

In C.F. Monroe, the decoration is EVERYTHING. The decoration came in at least seven categories or ‘Assortments’, as the company called it. The more intricate the design, the more costly the charge from the factory. Some of the finest pieces are possibly done in limited numbers and there may have been special orders. The 1900-01 catalog states, ‘any change from our regular line of stock goods will have to be submitted to the factory, and special prices quoted’.

The majority of Monroe articles are found with silver plated or brass ormolu metal parts attached to them. less