Ladies’ Dressing or Toiletries Box
Whilst a fellow volunteer and I were undertaking inventory work within the Social History section of Scarborough Museums and Galleries stores we came across a large very heavy box wrapped in tissue paper, with no indication on the wrapper of what the contents would be.
Carefully unwrapping the tissue paper we discovered a large very battered and worn leather case, securely fastened by a wrap around strap of leather. The front of the case should have had 2 small leather buckled closures, but sadly one was missing. The leather strap took gentle persuasion to open as the leather was so dry.
Opening the lid we saw a label indicating the outer and its contents were ‘From Austin’s, Dressing Case and Despatch Box Manufactory, 39 Westmoreland-street (Late of St Andrew-street,) Dublin’, also on this label was the accession information for Scarborough Museums and Galleries.
Looking down we saw a beautiful rosewood box with brass inlay strips and a brass escutcheon. If there had ever been engraving on the escutcheon it had worn away. Below the escutcheon is inlaid a small brass design, which shows signs of being well polished. On the front of the box are two locks. The bottom lock was firmly closed, but the top one was unlocked.
Opening the lid of the box we found we were looking at a beautiful ladies’ dressing / jewellery box.
Inset into the lid is what appears to be the original mirror which shows evidence of desilvering. The top layer of the box contains 4 small cut glass bottles with lids, 5 small cut glass jars with lids, and 3 rectangular cut glass pots (whose lids have holes perforated through). The lids are all silver in colour but bear no hallmarks, they also show signs wear following regular polishing so it is assumed that they are silver plated.
In the centre of the top layer is a dark blue velvet pad containing a pair of fine scissors, a nail file, a fruit knife, a fine corkscrew and a tiny knife except for the scissors the other items are all decorated with mother of pearl. The mother of pearl is intact with the exception of on the smaller knife where it is broken into 2 pieces but both are still attached to the item. The blade of the fruit knife is hallmarked and thanks to a quick bit of research by the Collections Manager the hallmark indicates the Sheffield Assay office, the maker as Thomas Marples and the date as 1863.
The front section of the top layer has a small handle at each end and when removed there is a beautiful wood lined storage area below. We did speculate what would have been stored there. Would it have been used for jewellery, special gloves or as a member of staff said ‘love letters’?
There is no key present for the locks, so another mystery lies waiting to be solved – what, if anything, lies in the bottom drawer?
A quick review of the Accession Registers shows that the ‘Toiletries Case’ was accessioned into the museums collection in 1965 as part of a large donation known as the ‘Miss Lord Collection’.
As volunteers we feel privileged to work with the Collection, learning about new (to us and sometimes to the current Collections Team) objects and sharing our learning.
I decided that I would like to undertake a little piece of simple research into the makers / suppliers of the toiletries box so turned to the Internet. Below are summaries of my findings with references to the internet sites used.
I hope you enjoy this quick view of what is currently my favourite item in the Collection.
Rowena Smith
– Volunteer (Collections Inventory) Scarborough Museums and Galleries.