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Description:
Ref: 660SB  http://hygra.com/box/660SB 

Antique fully fitted sewing box in almost black coromandel ebony profusely inlaid  to the top and front with engraved mother of pearl,  abalone, green parkesine, and brass. Inside there is the  lift-out tray  with its original purple velvet  coverings and supplementary lids. Inside the lid is lined with rushed cream coloured silk framed with gold embossed  purple silk velvet  framing. There is a document wallet behind.  The box has mother of pearl handled sewing tools and turned and carved mother of pearl spools. Parkeseine was the invention of Alexander Parks of Birmingham and was manufactured in his factory in Hackney. It is generally accepted as being the first plastic and was the predecessor of the American invention of celluloid which was similar but about 10 years later.

Origin: UK ;  Circa: 1860; Materials: coromandel, brass, abalone, mother of pearl,  parkesine
Size: 30.5 cm wide by 23 cm by 12.27 cm:  12  inches wide by   9 inches by  5  inches.
Condition: good overall;  veneer cracking which should not effect the structure, working lock and key; see images
Keywords: Sewing box, mother of pearl, parkesine, early plastic, celluloid, zylonite, ebony, inlaid, marquetry,  Alexander Parks, Hackney,  International Exhibition 1862, first plastic,  invention,  Elkington's, Tyrian Purple, mauveine,  William Henry Perkin,

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Ebony profusely inlaid  to the top and front with engraved mother of pearl,  abalone, green parkesine, and brass.

 

Ebony profusely inlaid  to the top and front with engraved mother of pearl,  abalone, green parkesine, and brass depicting stylized flora.

The vivid green is parkesine which is generally accepted  as the first plastic.  

The other materials in the inlay are abalone mother of pearl and brass.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to trace any images of what Parkes exhibited at the  International Exhibition of 1862 or the later Paris exhibition of 1867.  I wonder if this box was made to show off the possibilities.

In my research I have looked at the catalogues of both exhitions.

 

 

 

Inside there is the  lift-out tray  with its original purple velvet  coverings and supplementary lids

Inside the lid is lined with rushed cream coloured silk framed with gold embossed silk framing There is a document wallet behind.  

The box has mother of pearl handled sewing tools and turned and carved mother of pearl spools.

The attention to detail indicates that the box was made for the top end of the market. Even the facings are inlaid with accents.

 The lock plate is engraved "PATENT" on a lock of this date this usually means that t has a lever within the mechanism.

The box has mother of pearl handled sewing and manicure tools.

The lid is lined with rushed cream coloured silk framed with gold embossed silk framing There is a document wallet behind. 

The facings are inlaid with Parkesine and brass.

Detail of the inlay to the front. The inlay elements the brass,  mother of pearl and   parkesine  have been chased.

There is a document wallet behind. 

The document wallet has a gilded catch. 

Under the lift out tray the  box is lined with the original paper.

There is a slight silvering in the paper.

The supplementary lids  of the lift out tray are covered with velvet which is worn but most importantly is original.

The edging of the divisions with purple silk adds a layer of quality.

The colour is "Tyrian purple" perhaps created by  William Henry Perkin's ( later Sir) new method. 
Perkin filed for a patent in August 1856, when he was still only 18.

At the time, all dyes used for colouring cloth were natural substances, many of which were expensive and labour-intensive to extract. Furthermore, many lacked stability, or fastness. The colour purple, which had been a mark of aristocracy and prestige since ancient times, was especially expensive and difficult to produce — the dye used, known as Tyrian purple, was made from the glandular mucus of certain molluscs. Its extraction was variable and complicated, and so Perkin and his brother realised that they had discovered a possible substitute whose production could be commercially successful.

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Henry_Perkin

Public demand was increased when a similar colour was adopted by Queen Victoria

It was the first Aniline dye.

Extraordinarily Perkin's  experiments were carried out in "the crude  laboratory in his apartment on the top floor in his apartment on the top floor of his home in Cable Street in East London".  This is about a mile south of here!

The box has a period key.

Two thimbles and a measuring tape.

The tray is covered with silvered paper. The edges of each division are covered in purple silk. The purple dye was probably mauveine the first synthetic (aniline) dye invented by William Henry Perkin. It was the fashion colour of the time. 

I cannot help but wonder if Alexander Parkes and Sir William Henry Perkin ever met each other.

 

The ebony coromandel veneer is saw cut has  some cracking. This does not affect the structural integrity of the box.

 The inlay depicts stylized flora arranged symmetrically. The small  differences of the elements indicates that they were each made and inlayed separately. This was not mass production.

Inlay in Parkesine,  abalone of agate colour, and mother of pearl and brass all engraved and initials "A M H"

Inlay in Parkesine,  abalone of agate colour, and mother of pearl and brass all engraved.

the engraved detail in the Parkesine  with laquer defined engraving is preserved

The brass is not tarnished suggesting that it is  gilded. The pieces of abalone shell are quite small. 

All shell is slow to work with. and seems to defy being cut by a power saw. The saw blade has to move slowly enough for the saw dust to fall out. If the saw moves too fast it just clogs up. 

 

The joins between the pieces of abalone are visible under magnification. The pieces are really quite small.

The  top is turned and carved mother of pearl.

The box has four original mother of pear spools. The mother of pearl has been turned carved and pierced.

Each top represents an considerable investment of time to make.

The spools have bone on their underside. The shaft  is a cylinder and a rod and can be pulled apart to fit a reel of thread.

The bone can be recognized by the  dark flecking.

Alexander Parkes Also exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. This is part of the report from "The Supplement to the Birmingham Journal, Saturday June 1 1867:

..." as we pass on to the large stall in which Parkes of Birmingham, displays an immense variety of objects made from a composition which he calls 'Parkesine,' obtained from a mixture (of all things in the world!) of collodion and castor oil. This substance seems to imitate, with equal fidelity india-rubber, gutta percha, horn, tortoiseshell, leather, malachite, marbles, ivory, &c., &c., and to serve for the production of all the objects useful and ornamental, usually made of those materials. A thin sheet of Parkesine blue, with a gold veining looks very like lapis lazuli;  Another shortly to be added to the display, is said to imitate with utmost fidelity, the irridescent colours of mother-of-pearl."

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