The Art of Correspondence
29th January 2025Harking back to an age where the letter was an essential form of communication, no Victorian or Edwardian desk would have been complete without a decorative box or dispenser to hold stamps. Some had one simple compartment while more elaborate models had drawers and shelves or formed part of desk sets. Smaller stamp cases were made to be carried, often with rings attached so that they could be suspended from a watch chain or necklace, ready for emergencies.
The introduction of postage stamps in the UK in 1840 established, not just an efficient postal system throughout the British empire, but the foundation of many national systems still in existence today. Street collection boxes did not become nationwide in Britain until the 1870's and the peak period for the manufacture of stamp boxes dated from 1890 to 1914, coming to a close with the onset of the First World War.
A Victorian love of luxury items and knick-knacks, saw dedicated stamp boxes made in Tunbridge Ware. As time went on, stamp boxes and cases were produced in a bewilderingly large number of designs, coinciding with a drop in silver prices from 1874 and 1894. Silver stamp cases were primarily manufactured in Britain and the USA, though examples from Germany and Denmark are also known.
This private collection of a hundred examples includes a wonderful pair of late-Victorian novelty silver ‘Port’ & ‘Starboard’ ship lantern inkwells, by Samuel Jacob, London 1897, (lot 371) and a modern novelty silver inkwell, Birmingham 1970, in the form of a pillar box, (lot 376). Further examples include stamp boxes in the form of coal scuttles, miniature desks with drawers, barrels, letter scales, clocks and calendars to suspended silver envelope cases and travelling desk sets.
The collection sold for a total £55,550 (with auction fees) in the Silver and Objects of Vertu sale on 4th and 5th .